Tag: Ohio Penitentiary (Columbus OH)

Wikipedia says: The Ohio Penitentiary, also known as the Ohio State Penitentiary, was a prison operated from 1834 to 1984 in downtown Columbus, Ohio, in what is now known as the Arena District. The state had built a small prison in Columbus in 1813, but as the state’s population grew the earlier facility was not able to handle the number of prisoners sent to it by the courts. When the penitentiary first opened in 1834, not all of the buildings were completed. The prison housed 5,235 prisoners at its peak in 1955. Prison conditions were 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, George “Bugs” Moran, O. Henry, Chester Himes, and Sam Sheppard. A separate women’s prison was built within its walls in 1837. The buildings were demolished in 1997.

History

The prison was completed in 1815, replacing a more primitive one constructed by the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas a mile south in Franklinton. It initially consisted of 13 cells. Its first inmates were two brothers, John and David Evans, who arrived August 15, 1815.

Starting in 1897, 315 inmates were executed in the prison’s electric chair. 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. Both men and women were electrocuted between 1897 and 1963. Tourists were encouraged to visit the Ohio State Penitentiary.

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 Terry Taylor.

Notable inmates

John Hunt Morgan – Confederate Army General who escaped from the prison.