In Twin Peaks Episode 1004, there is an extremely brief establishing shot of a State Prison in Washington where Hank Jennings served time. This shot is only seen once in the entire series and is actually located in Monroe, Washington.
Located at 16550 177th Ave SE, the Monroe Correctional Complex originally opened in 1910 as the Washington State Reformatory. Â According to PrisonTalk.com:
“It was originally intended to house young offenders, keeping them separate from the hardcore older offenders. In 1981, the Special Offender Center was opened to treat offenders with mental health issues. Twin Rivers Correctional Center opened in 1984 as a 500-bed medium-custody facility. The Minimum-Security Unit opened in 1997 to house minimum-custody offenders. In 1998, the four facilities merged into the Monroe Correctional Complex under one Superintendent.”
This establishing shot was included in the first draft of the script for Episode 1004 from September 26, 1989.
12. EXT. Â STATE PRISON Â – DAY
Establish.
The scene features a red 1968 Ford F-150 driving past a watchtower before cutting to an interior set built on a soundstage.
Here’s a look at an aerial view of the watchtower where the truck passes.
This footage was most likely captured by a second unit crew when the Pilot Episode was shot in 1989. The prison would have been known as Washington State Reformatory at that time and wouldn’t have contained as many facilities as it does today. An aerial image on Google Earth gives us a look at the location from August 1990.
The establishing shot looks like it was shot through a fence (or it could be a window with wire between the glass). If it was a fence, then it may have been shot in the red circled areas.
Additional buildings were added in the 1990s, and the location appeared mostly the same in 2002. By 2005, the road the F-150 used would have been shortened with the addition of two additional facilities.
KXLY posted a video report about a prison on YouTube where I grabbed this image of the watchtower. It could be the same one seen in Episode 1004.
Interesting trivia note – James Fogle served time at the complex. He was the author of Drugstore Cowboy, which became the basis for the 1989 film starting Matt Dillon and Kelly Lynch. Fogle On August 23, 2012, Fogle died of mesothelioma in prison at the age of 75 while serving a 15 year and nine month sentence for robbing a Seattle Pharmacy in 2011.
The Monroe Correctional Complex is about a seven minute drive from the exterior of the Palmer House as seen in Seasons 1 and 2.
Finally, a hat tip to InTwinPeaks.com who first posted about this film location. (click on the image below to enlarge). Stay tuned for a breakdown of the interior sets for the State Prison scenes in Episode 1004.
