These photos were taken at The Ohio State Reformatory also known as the "Mansfield Reformatory" in Mansfield, Ohio. If the location looks familiar you may recognize it from the 1994 film Shawshank Redemption starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. Unfortunately after the movie many of the buildings depicted on the grounds were cleared to add more space to the two local and still active prisons. Castle Rock Entertainment left many items behind after filming including the infamous halfway house set, the movie theater chairs, and even some of their electrical equipment in the main guard room.
My husband and I enjoyed a behind the bars tour that took us through both the west and east cell block, through the attic, infirmary, and up to the guard tower. These photos begin with the outside grounds, then transition to the main guard room control center, the infirmary's elevator (ground breaking for the time but usually didn't work), the on site church that inmates were required once a week to attend, the "Brooks" halfway house set, the attic (including some interesting and "adult" graffiti that inmates created), the "Movie" scene set, and it ends with the steps that we took to go up and down to the guard tower on the roof. We were not allowed to take photos facing out any of the north windows or on top of the guard tower due to the active prisons that are in observational distance.
The Reformatory is in an interesting state of disrepair. The State Of Ohio originally scheduled it to be demolished and a group of citizens have undertaken trying to restore it. If you go be prepared for a weird mix of Shawshank Redemption cut outs, left over remnants of prison life, and the absurdity of viewing a decaying prison that was actually very effective at reformation because it was years ahead in its thinking with the reality of observing the prisons next door that represent everything currently questionable in the criminal justice system. Modern prisons often come nowhere close to the original concept of justice which was to provide justice and/or compensation to those wronged with the equal goal of rehabilitating those who deserved punishment but weren't "lost" causes.
While the cell blocks are impressive they were only used for one scene in the movie which is when the man who killed Andy Dufresne's wife confesses to Tommy what he got away with. The director for Shawshank Redemption was certainly inspired by The Reformatory's aesthetics but wanted the cell blocks to face each other for story telling purposes. The East cell block at The Reformatory is the largest free standing cell block in the world at six tiers high. The restoration society is currently trying to convince visitors that donating one million dollars is worth it to restore the structure (the one million only covers the East Cellblock, not The West which is an equal state of neglect). This may be one of the most interesting and unique places I've ever photographed where I left with the distinct impression that its days are truly numbered and that it will eventually cease to exist which honestly may be for the best given its current state.
