Ohio Penitentiary

This article is about former prison in Columbus, Ohio. For the current prison in Youngstown, see Ohio State Penitentiary.

Ohio Penitentiary

Location	Columbus, Ohio
Coordinates	39°58′3.94″N 83°0′38.74″W / 39.9677611°N 83.0107611°W / 39.9677611; -83.0107611Coordinates: 39°58′3.94″N 83°0′38.74″W / 39.9677611°N 83.0107611°W / 39.9677611; -83.0107611
Status	Demolished
Population	5,235 (as of 1955)
Opened	1834

The Ohio Penitentiary, also known as the Ohio State Penitentiary, or less formally, the Ohio Pen or State Pen, was a prison operated from 1834-1983 in downtown Columbus, Ohio, in what is now known as the Arena District. The prison housed 5,235 prisoners at its peak in 1955. Conditions in the prison have been described as "primitive", and the facility was eventually replaced by the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, a maximum security facility in Lucasville. During its operation, it housed several well-known inmates, including General John H. Morgan, who famously escaped the prison during the Civil War, "Bugs" Moran, O. Henry, Chester Himes, and Sam Sheppard, whose story is said to have inspired the movie The Fugitive. A separate facility for women prisoners was completed within the walls of the Ohio Penitentiary in 1837. The building was finally demolished in 1998.^[1]

Fire

On April 21, 1930, a major fire killed 322 inmates and seriously injured 150.^[2] A cordon of penitentiary guards was thrown about the towering prison walls. Other squads took up vantage points in guard towers and by this time 500 soldiers from Fort Hayes, local military post, were on the scene. Machine guns were mounted at the gates and on the walls. Bayonets were fixed and the troopers were ordered to shoot to kill. A troop of National Guardsmen soon augmented the regulars, and 30 minutes after the fire started the prison was completely surrounded.^[3]

The incident was the subject of Chester Himes' (an inmate at the time) story To What Red Hell (published in Esquire in 1934) as well as to his novel Cast the First Stone—later republished unabridged as Yesterday Will Make You Cry (1998).

Executions

In 1885, the penitentiary became the site for executions, which had been carried out by local law enforcement officials up to that time. At first, prisoners condemned to death were executed by hanging, but in 1897 the electric chair replaced the prison's gallows. A total of 315 prisoners, both men and women, were electrocuted between 1897 and 1963, when the death penalty was halted in Ohio.^[4] A number of women served on death row in the prison and ultimately faced execution either by hanging or in the electric chair.

Riots

The prison was the site of the "Halloween Riot", on October 31, 1952, which left one inmate dead and four injured,^[5] as well as the riot of August 1968, which ended with five dead inmates, five injured inmates and seven injured officers.^[6]

Closure

After the closure of the Ohio Penitentiary in 1983,^[4] the building stood vacant for more than a decade, though it was used as a training site for a time by the Ohio National Guard, was briefly known as "The Haunted Prison" for Halloween festivities, and attracted a number of urban explorers. The building also served as the setting for the 1985 made-for-TV movie "Love on the Run", starring Stephanie Zimbalist and Alec Baldwin. The state eventually sold it to the city of Columbus in 1995. The Burnham Square Condominiums, named after urban planner and architect Daniel Burnham, who designed Columbus's Union Station, and the Nationwide Arena now stand on the site of the former penitentiary.^{[7][dead link]}

Among the wardens of the penitentiary was Charles C. Walcutt, a former general in the Union Army during the Civil War. The last Warden was T.D. Taylor.

Images

• 

  A cell block in the abandoned prison, shortly before demolition.

• 

  A cell in the abandoned prison, shortly before demolition.

• 

  The James Hospital stood in the courtyard of the prison.

• 

  Interior of the prison.

• 

  The courtyard of the abandoned prison. One Riverside Plaza, the world headquarters of American Electric Power(AEP), is featured prominently within downtown skyline along with the Rhodes State Office Tower and the LeVeque Tower.

• 

  Gate to the prison's courtyard.

References

1. ^ Ohio Penitentiary
2. ^ Ohio Penitentiary Fire - Ohio History Central - A product of the Ohio Historical Society
3. ^ "Columbus, OH State Penitentiary Fire Disaster, Apr 1930". http://www3.gendisasters.com/ohio/5191/columbus,-oh-state-penitentiary-fire-disaster,-apr-1930. Retrieved 2009-06-17. 
4. ^ ^{a b} Ohio Penitentiary - Ohio History Central - A product of the Ohio Historical Society
5. ^ Ohio Penitentiary Riot (1952) - Ohio History Central - A product of the Ohio Historical Society
6. ^ Ohio Penitentiary Riot (1968) - Ohio History Central - A product of the Ohio Historical Society
7. ^ Columbus RetroMetro: City Scene

External links

• Ohio Penitentiary, Ohio History Central
• The Ohio Penitentiary, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction
• Death of a Legend Book Closing on Another Chapter in Ohio History (a history of the Ohio Penitentiary), Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction