30-year plus journalist. It was built between 1886 and 1910 and remained in operation until 1990, when a United States Federal Court ruling (the 'Boyd Consent Decree') ordered the facility to be closed. In response to a prison riot, Reformatory officials sentenced over 100 prisoners to 30 days in solitary confinement. During the Civil War, Union forces used the area as. The Ohio State Reformatory facility has been used as a location for many film and television productions, and is best known for its appearance as Shawshank State Prison in the 1994 film The Shawshank Redemption. Its first inmates were two brothers, John and David Evans, who arrived August 15, 1815. Later that year, a. The state eventually sold the property and building to the city of Columbus for development purposes in 1995. The windows of the south side east cell block have been replaced, and all of the original stained glass windows that were in the building are planned to be replaced. "These are dangerous people" . They then took a six-foot, flat steel bar that was used to support the wall. a:visited { OSR was ordered closed by a federal judge, who made his ruling after prisoners filed a class-action suit, citing overcrowding and inhumane conditions. The cover artwork for the novel could have represented a field of dreams to the inmates. Truth be told, anywhere would have been better than inside the walls of the Ohio State Reformatory in 1990. Lester Eubanks escaped from an Ohio prison in 1973. . Ohio State Reformatory, Mansfield, Ohio. Despite 42 inmates attempting to escape through the years, no prisoners successfully survived. Some of it was a result of the conditions they were forced to live in. They are 1) The Life of Christ 2) Miracles of the Old Testament 3) Heroes of the Reformation and 4) Christian Martyrs. Ohio State Reformatory, Mansfield: Address, Phone Number, Ohio State Reformatory Reviews: 4.5/5. I cant dispute that he has a family in spite of all the things hes done who love him dearly, and friends who love him. The only . Curious, he moved it aside -- and found an 8-inch-by-10-inch hole chiseled through the 36-inch wall brick and concrete wall. It was designed by Cleveland architect Levi Scofield, best known for his massiveSoldiers and Sailors Monumentin Cleveland's Public Square. BUT HOW? The original purpose of what would become the Ohio State Reformatory was for it to serve as a home for middle of the road" criminals; those too old for the Boys Industrial School in Lancaster and not "hardened" enough for the Ohio State Penitentiary in Columbus. A troop of National Guardsmen soon augmented the regulars, and 30 minutes after the fire started the prison was completely surrounded. Two years later, after being released on parole, Billy was arrested and charged with raping three women. 1 AlcatrazSan Francisco, California, 1962. Freshwaters escaped from that honor farm, not the prison. This is best evidenced by the graveyard of unclaimed bodies which still lies on the grounds. The Ohio State Reformatory provides several ways to interact with the macabre history of the stunning limestone architecture of the former prison. More recently, music video producers have turned their eyes on OSR and the building has been featured in videos by Godsmack and Lil Wayne. Before Shawshank, real inmates at OSR tried to tunnel their way to freedom. It was hard to imagine that on the day OSR opened in 1886, a local newspaper headline called it "Mansfield's Greatest Day." It was used up until 1990 when it was closed because a Federal Court ordered it closed due to its inhumane conditions. In the film, it takes Dufresne 19 years to tunnel out from the prison. Two men who had been parolled, James West and Robert Daniels, returned to the prison grounds seeking revenge for their time at Mansfield.