Thursday, April 4 2024

Road video and map

As another step on the way home before the inevitable traffic chaos of the solar eclipse on April 8, I drove the 220 miles (354 km) from Fort Wayne, IN to Akron, OH today. The journey was routine but my stop at the Ohio State Reformatory was definitely not.

I enjoyed visiting the Old Melbourne Gaol when in Australia (blogged here, scroll down to Thursday) so when my friend, Patricia, told me about the Reformatory and how interesting it was I immediately put it on my visit list. It is in Mansfield, Ohio and I doubt that I would have discovered its existence otherwise. It was the location used for the prison scenes in the movie The Shawshank Redemption. I have not watched the movie for years but have in my collection at home and will next week.

In addition to Shawshank this location has featured in Air Force One, Tango and Cash, Judas and the Black Messiah as well as several music videos.

I took the self guided tour which has over 60 stops along the route where you listen on a personal wand to an audio description of the history and use of whatever you are seeing. It took me over three hours to complete the tour of this fascinatingly depressing, and very chilly, place and enjoy a cup of coffee in the cafe to warm up at the end.

The architecture and setting suggest you are entering a castle. There is a lake with ducks right outside. Despite the blue sky when I arrived it was only 44° F (6° C) and when I left it was sleeting.

Much of the original facility, such as the outer wall, the power plant and the farm was demolished to make room for a new corrections facility that has been built next door. The core prison structure had been left to deteriorate since it was closed by court order in 1990 due to the overcrowded and insanitary conditions. A local group, the Mansfield Reformatory Preservation Society, was formed and bought the prison from the state for $1 with the promise to raise funds to preserve and restore it. The first part of the tour is through the restored administration area of the prison where the beauty is maintained.

The original purpose of the reformatory was to act as an intermediate prison for young offenders where they could be educated, trained and reformed. The left hand plaque indicates you can listen to an audio description of the programs offered.

Most of the building has been decaying since 1990. The Preservation Society has stabilized the structure, repaired the roof and cleared a lot of debris but, as this picture of the chapel shows, there is a lot of work to be done. Many windows are broken or missing and there are still puddles of rain water in places on the tour.

I hope the restoration is limited to a few special places, for example the chapel, library and hospital. The place was largely silent today but I feel you can imagine the noise, chaos and conflicts that occurred when this East Cell Block held almost 2,000 prisoners better by seeing it in its current condition. The cell block is the worlds largest free standing cell block and is 6 stories high. It is made entirely of steel.

Each cell is 9 by 7 feet (2.7 by 2.1 m) and, when it became a maximum security prison, held two men. An explosion in the prison population was caused by prohibition, get-tough laws and drug enforcement in the decades before the prison was closed.

The view along the fifth floor of the cell block.

Luckily, they do not make visitors use these stairs to get between levels.

The West cell block is mostly concrete and only 5 tiers high. This cell block was used for Shawshank prison scenes and the freshly painted cells on the second tier were used in more recent productions.

It was a thoroughly engrossing experience to imagine life here and I recommend visiting if you are in the area.