The 10 Most Interesting Abandoned Prisons of America

The tale of crime and punishment in our country is fascinating. As attitude towards incarceration and crime has changed over the years, many historic penitentiaries have fallen silent. Deserted buildings are eerie enough on their own, but these abandoned prisons are equal parts creepy, heartbreaking, and hauntingly beautiful.

There are abandoned prisons where inmates were held in solitary confinement, tortured, and even executed that feel particularly chilling. For true crime fans, many former jails are open to the public and offer tours. Excluding Alcatraz, because we’ve all either seen or heard about it, here are 10 abandoned prisons around America and the stories behind them.

Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia

Time of Operation: 1829 to 1971
When first built, the building was the biggest and most expensive public structure ever erected in the US and quickly became a model for more than 300 prisons worldwide. Known for its grand architecture and strict discipline, this was the world’s first true “penitentiary,” a prison designed to inspire penitence, or genuine regret, in the hearts of convicts.

Isolation was a common practice here. Many parts of the penitentiary remain the same. The prison’s old barber chair is still pinned to the floor of the barbershop. Worth mentioning is that Al Capone’s cell is one of the most fascinating spots in this prison.

Ohio State Reformatory, Mansfield

Time of Operation: 1886 to 1990
Built in 1886, this was an efficient institution with its own power plant and working farm. The Reformatory produced goods in its workshops for other state institutions and provided opportunities for inmates to learn trades. It was specifically for young male offenders, concentrating on hard work and education.

It became a maximum-security facility in 1946, housing all types of criminals. Considered substandard by the 1970s, the Ohio State Reformatory closed in 1990. This place is now listed on the national register of historic places and offers guided tours. The East Cell Block is still known as the largest free-standing steel cell block in the world.

Five major motion pictures have been filmed here, including “The Shawshank Redemption” and “Air Force One.” Restoration of the prison is ongoing, but much of the structure is in a state of decay.

West Virginia State Penitentiary, Moundsville

Time of Operation: 1876 to 1995
Throughout its history, this State Penitentiary has seen its fair share of violence and death. A large amount of inhumane treatment and dangerous living situations led to the prison getting on a top ten list of most violent correctional facilities by the U.S. Department of Justice. Ninety-four men were executed in this Gothic-style site.

The prison’s electric chair, “Old Sparky,” was built by inmate Paul Glenn and is probably as close to the cliché of “prisoners running the asylum” as you can get. Riots would be nothing new for a prisoner’s or guard’s life at West Virginia Penitentiary. Besides offering tours, today, the prison is also a training facility for law enforcement officials. This place is fascinating, if only just to see the sheer inhumanity of how prisoners were treated.

Wyoming Frontier Prison, Rawlins

Time of Operation: 1880 to 1981
The eighty-year history of Wyoming’s first state penitentiary, aka the Wyoming Frontier Prison, is as colorful and intricate as the plot of a classic western movie. The prison was outfitted with several means of punishing inmates throughout its operation, including solitary confinement, a dungeon, and a “punishment pole,” to which men were handcuffed and whipped with rubber hoses.

The prison also housed a gas chamber when it was chosen to replace hanging as Wyoming’s method of execution in 1936. This site is a relic of the old West’s grizzly past, but not every phase of prison life was off-putting.

Over its 80-year operation, the prison produced goods to meet the needs of four major industries. It operated as a shirt factory, a woolen mill, and in 1949 the jail changed production one last time, producing license plates until its closing in 1981. The building is now a museum and has exhibits and guided tours of the old prison.

Old Idaho State Penitentiary, Boise

Time of Operation: 1872 to 1973
In 1872 the Idaho Territorial Prison opened for some of the most desperate and mean criminals the West could offer. The place was built to hold about 600 people and saw over 13,000 inmates in its lifetime. In 1973 the Idaho State Penitentiary closed its doors, but they have now reopened for visitors to explore more than 100 decades of Idaho’s unique prison history.

Visitors can walk through solitary confinement, cell blocks, and the gallows. Walking through here, you can relive the Old Pen’s exciting past of daring escapes, scandals, and executions.

Fun Fact: This prison is only ten years younger than Idaho itself.

Tennessee State Prison, Nashville

Time of Operation: 1898 to 1992
This Victorian-style penitentiary opened on February 12 of 1898, with 800 cells. That day alone, they would admit just over 1,400 prisoners. This caused extreme overcrowding. The Tennessee State Prison is rich with history. Most of this prison was built using inmate labor, and Inmates worked up to 16 hours a day on very little food.

Riots and uncontrollable prisoner violence are what contributed to the facility’s downfall, which happened in 1992. It has been the location for movies like Ernest Goes to Jail, Against the Wall, The Green Mile, and The Last Castle. Today, the historical society has hopes to renovate the prison and reopen it as a museum.

Fort Delaware, Delaware City

Time of Operation: 1859 to 1944
Built in 1859, Fort Delaware was created as a Union Fortress but used as a prison for the captured Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. It was home to up to 12,595 prisoners at one time. The fort was active during four wars, but Fort Delaware never fired a shot in combat during its entire history.

The fortress became a state park in 1951. Today, you can engage with fort historians dressed in period clothing and hear stories of those who lived here in 1864. See the officers’ quarters, barracks, kitchen, blacksmith shop, and ordinance room, listen to stories of great escapes, and watch as the Fort’s Columbiad cannon fires a gunpowder charge!

Pottawattamie County Jail, Council Bluffs

Time of Operation: 1885 to 1969
Aka, the “Squirrel Cage Jail” is one of three rotary jails in the US. All of which survived as examples of a brief fascination with keeping criminals in rotating cells. This Iowa jail was built in 1885, with three floors that revolve inside cages, was designed by William H. Brown and Benjamin F. Haugh to minimize the contact between inmates and guards.

By the 1960s, the huge metal turntable was not faring so well and would become stuck often. It was in active use until 1969 when it finally closed its rotating doors to any further offenders. After its closure, the prison was taken over by the Historical Society of Pottawattamie County, and it was designated as a museum site.

Unfortunately, the cage no longer turns, but tours ARE available, where you can still see inmates’ signatures carved into the walls.

Wyoming Territorial Prison, Laramie

Time of Operation: 1872 to 1903
This prison was home to 1,063 criminals of the wild west during its operation, including Butch Cassidy. It began as a federal prison in 1872 but became Wyoming’s State Penitentiary in 1890. Inmates were required to be quiet at all times, perform hard labor, wear striped uniforms, and names were replaced with numbers for the most infamous criminals.

The facility had problems from the start, with a fire in 1873 and reoccurring jailbreaks. Of the 44 prisoners accepted in the first two years of operation, 11 escaped. By 1877 the prison was overcrowded. As the prison filled, its reputation worsened, and it became less used, being considered more appropriate for those with lighter sentences.

It closed down in 1903 and was used by the University of Wyoming to do livestock and crop field research. The prison was renovated and turned into a museum in 1990.

Penitentiary of New Mexico, Santa Fe

Time of Operation: 1885 to 1998
New Mexico is best known for its southwestern cuisine, rich history, and its magnificent and diverse landscapes. But the Land of Enchantment with normally friendly people holds a more horrific claim as well. This is where one of the most violent prison riots in American history occurred in 1980 when inmates took 12 guards as hostages, killed 33 other prisoners, and injured 100 more in 36 hours.

Signs of a beheading and charred outlines of bodies are still noticeable on the concrete ground. This place was closed for repairs after the riot and reopened for 18 years before closing again in 1998. The New Mexico Corrections Department has been offering tours since 2012.

Our Takeaway? America’s discarded prisons and decaying correctional facilities tell a sobering and sometimes chilling story of how people have been incarcerated throughout the times, often in harsh, cramped conditions and for crimes that may no longer exist. From so-called squirrel cage jails, where small cells were revolved using a carousel system, to eerie cell blocks said to be haunted by ghosts of former inmates and staff, if you’re planning on visiting any weird spots, be sure to check out some of the places on our list. They’re jam-packed with historical accounts and fantastic guided tours!