Everything about Ohio Penitentiary totally explained
The prison, variously referred to as the
Ohio Penitentiary, or the
Ohio State Penitentiary, or (informally) the
Ohio Pen or
State Pen, operated in downtown
Columbus, Ohio in what is now known as the
Arena District, from 1834 to 1983. The prison housed 5,235 prisoners at its peak in 1955. Conditions in the prison are 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, and
Sam Sheppard, whose story inspired the movie
The Fugitive. The building was finally demolished in 1998.
The prison was the site of the "Halloween Riot", on
October 31,
1952, as well as the
riot of
1968, and a major fire that killed 322 inmates in 1930.
After the closure of the Ohio Penitentiary in 1983, 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 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.
Images
Image:Ohio Penitentiary - Cell Block.jpg|A cell block in the abandoned prison, shortly before demolition.
Image:Ohio Penitentiary - Cell.jpg|A cell in the abandoned prison, shortly before demolition.
Image:Ohio Penitentiary - James Hospital.jpg|The James Hospital stood in the courtyard of the prison.
Image:Ohio Penitentiary - Cell Blocks.jpg|Interior of the prison.
Image:Ohio Penitentiary - Courtyard.jpg|The courtyard of the abandoned prison. The AEP building and LeVeque Tower can be seen in the downtown skyline.
Image:Ohio Penitentiary - Interior Gate.jpg|Gate to the prison's courtyard.
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