Ohio State Reformatory (image heavy)

gryphon1911

Hall of Famer
Location
Central Ohio, USA
Name
Andrew
I have a full post over at my Visual Ohio blog, which I will link to at the bottom of this thread for those who want to read through the whole thing and see a bunch more pictures. I used a combo of the Olympus EM5.2 and Panasonic 12-35/2.8 and Ricoh GRII and the first image in the blog post was shot with my Pixel 2 XL.

The Reformatory:
Architect Levi Schofield designed the reformatory after 3 different styles: Victorian Gothic, Richardsonian Romanesque and Queen Ann. The idea was for the inmates to be inspired by the architecture and be reborn back into their spiritual lives.

The reformatory opened its doors on September 15, 1896 and was built on the site of an old Civil War soldier training camp.

The facility is no longer in use and the building/property were sold to the city in 1995. It has been turned into a museum and tourist location.

Information about the reformatory building, tours and more detailed history can be found on their Official Website.

Many Hollywood movies and music videos were shot here.
Air Force One
The Shawshank Redemption
Tango and Cash
to name a few.

Here are a few images:

Improvised weapons found during the reformatory's operation.
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"Old Sparky'
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The "chair room" - paranormal activity is heavy here. If chairs are left in certain rooms, they tend to move around.
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The cathedral area
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Leaving the cathedral and heading into the first cell block area.
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A typical cell area (restored for tourist purposes)
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Visual Ohio - Ohio State Reformatory
 
Fantastic photos. Check out Eastern State Pen in Philadelphia if you ever make it over there, it's the same kind of facility. I love it when places like this are minimally upkept but allowed to "age" and only get more mysterious and cool.
 
Very interesting, Andrew.

I suspect that not many inmates experienced any 'reform' from being in such a place ...

{Edit} I also find it interesting the juxtaposition of the grandeur of the self-important judges here with the appalling conditions of the inmates.
{End edit}
Unfortunately any idea of "reform" or "rehabilitation" of detainees in this country's prison system has almost completely been abandoned. Instead, these institutions serve as a place to warehouse and "punish" offenders through various depredations of dubious legality. And any politician who dares to suggest that this paradigm is not serving anyone (not the inmates, certainly, but also not society at large) is quickly labeled "soft on crime" by some populist and quickly disabused of his ideas or replaced from his cushy job.

And the contrast with how the "other half" of the legal system lives is very astute.

- K
 
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Very interesting, Andrew.

I suspect that not many inmates experienced any 'reform' from being in such a place ...

{Edit} I also find it interesting the juxtaposition of the grandeur of the self-important judges here with the appalling conditions of the inmates.
{End edit}
Something I remember reading about the Eastern State Penitentiary, the first-ever prison of its kind, was that the grand austerity of the place was intended to reform prisoners by making them penitent (hence the name). Go wherever you want to with the ways you think they were wrong, but the designers thought of the process as inducing sorrow and repentance such that a person's humanity and sense of right and wrong could be restored. A very early-19th-century way of thinking, to be sure. But at least, the hope was that a period of bleak purgatorial reflection might remake rational and virtuous citizens from lawbreakers. Outmoded thinking which never really worked, but a fascinating historical remnant of a period of thought on the subject of criminal reform.
 
And the contrast with how the "other half" of the legal system lives is very astute.

- K
The USA may well be the foremost exemplar of this behaviour, but it is not in any way unique.

Pretty much all bureaucrats the world over behave this way.

I took on our national Department of Social Security here, and won. I proved in court (the AAT - Administrative Appeals Tribunal) that the DSS was both negligent and incompetent, and resorted to bullying and harassment to attempt to extort repayments to which it was not entitled. Payments which had been received in good faith, and which had been questioned by us at every stage.

The DSS had zero records of such questioning. However, my wife swore a separate statutory declaration that she had listened to countless conversations on speakerphone where I had questioned these things.

This entire farce extended over a period in excess of two years. Three if you count the external appeals process.

What is cheering is that Level 2 of the AAT is now vigorously pursuing the DSS on the very grounds that I put forward at our level 1 hearing.
 
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