Last inmates leave Nevada State Prison

The final half-dozen inmates loaded up their possessions Monday and moved out of the old Nevada State Prison, with at least one of them making it clear he would rather stay.

"I'm going back to a regular prison," said William Tungate, 45. "Freedom is a lot better here."

Warden Greg Smith said a lot of the inmates like it at NSP because they feel as if they have more space and freedom to move around.

Tungate, a trustee scheduled for parole in July, said "it was nice" where he was in the prison. The space once occupied by 11 inmates, he said, got down to just six by the end.

The prison, first opened in 1862, was one of the oldest operating in the U.S. The only older Western prison that Smith knows of is San Quentin in California.

Those last NSP inmates didn't have far to go, however. They were moved to Warm Springs Prison, just a double row of chain-link fence away from the upper yard of NSP.