The Ohio State Reformatory is a prison that’s appeared in numerous music videos and movies over the years. The most famous of those movies was The Shawshank Redemption, with many scenes – including non-prison scenes – being filmed there.
Following its closure in 1990, this former prison in Mansfield, Ohio is now open to the public for tours. We were staying with friends in Mansfield, so on our final morning with them we all went to visit the Ohio State Reformatory.
Spoiler alert: there are a few references to scenes from The Shawshank Redemption within the post. I’ve tried to keep them as vague as possible for those who haven’t watched the film yet, but it might give away a few elements of the movie.
Construction of the prison began in 1886, although it’d be another 10 years before it received its first prisoners due to construction delays caused by funding issues.
Before entering through the front doors, we walked over to the large pond on the left. Laying on its side is a sheared section of the oak tree that appeared in the movie. You used to be able to visit the tree near Malabar Farm State Park, but high winds in 2011 to 2016 damaged it and sadly blew the iconic oak tree down. At that point, this section of the tree was relocated to the grounds of the Ohio State Reformatory.
Inside, the tour began on the first floor with displays and exhibits giving an idea of what life would’ve been like in the prison for both prisoners and guards. It also had stories about some infamous former inmates called the Mad Dog Killers.
After working our way round the exhibits, the tour continued upstairs. There were several of these stairways in the prison; although they look like they’re constructed of wood, they’re actually made of steel (to reduce the risk of fire) and painted to make them look like wood. If you watch The Shawshank Redemption again, you’ll see these stairways make an appearance in a couple of scenes.
Something we hadn’t realized before our visit was that back when the Ohio State Reformatory functioned as a prison, the Warden and his family lived in quarters within the building, along with the prison chaplain. That meant the prison was home to some nice, large bedrooms and bathrooms – a complete contrast to the cell blocks we’d visit later in the tour. They’ve since fallen into disrepair, but they’re currently working on the rooms to completely restore them.
These upper floors are also home to several offices which may look familiar from The Shawshank Redemption. There’s the room where Red’s parole hearings were held…
…and the offices where Andy locked the door and played music over the loudspeaker.
In that scene, the prison guard captain – Byron Hadley – broke the window with his stick to gain entry. The glass was never replaced, so the door’s window now remains open.
You can also visit the Warden’s office from the movie, with a few displays and exhibits inside that provide some context and help jog your memory.
It even has a safe in the wall, although I don’t think it’s the original safe used in the movie. Take a look inside the safe and you might see a familiar book. Again, it’s not the original prop from the movie, but it’s fun that there’s something similar in there.
We walked over to the window in the Warden’s office and noticed something on the glass. I’m not sure if this is left over from the movie or if someone added it later for “fun”?!
One of my favorite sections from this part of the tour was getting to visit Brooks’s room. In the movie, this scene was depicted as being outside of the prison, although they converted one of the rooms inside the prison for filming purposes.
In the movie, this room is said to be in the Brewer Hotel. You can visit that building in downtown Mansfield which is actually called the Bissman Building. When watching the movie, this is the building that you’ll see Brooks walking up to.
Up to this point, all of the tour had been in the offices and living quarters. It was now time to walk in the footsteps of past prisoners, with the first room being a large chapel.
Heading off through a side door on the right side of the chapel gave us our first glimpse of the cell blocks. This upper level was blocked off, so we could only view them from behind our own set of bars.
As the tour continued, we were able to enter cells on lower levels of the cell block. This gave us a much better idea of the inmates’ cramped and unpleasant living quarters.
I’m only 5’9″ and barely fit on one of the beds, so taller prisoners would’ve been even more uncomfortable.
The tour took us down each level where we got to explore more cells and get a better view of each cell block’s expansiveness.
Having wandered through the east and west cell blocks, the tour led us through other sections of the prison. That included the hospital, library and shower rooms. The shower was known by the guards (and possibly the prisoners) as the “Car Wash”.
There was no hot water and apparently they only got to shower twice a week. Temperatures in the Ohio State Reformatory were kept at 90° F (32° C) to help prevent illness, so I can only imagine how things must’ve smelled before shower day.
One of the final areas of the tour led to a large room with some notable props from The Shawshank Redemption. This includes the tunnel and sewer pipe from the movie, along with information about how the sewage was made.
Leading off from there was the solitary confinement area of the Ohio State Reformatory. One of these cells was also used for the scene where Andy was placed in solitary confinement by Warden Norton.
Final Thoughts
The Ohio State Reformatory tour was even more interesting that I anticipated. Even if you’ve never watched The Shawshank Redemption (which you should), it’s well worth going on the tour as there’s so much more to the Reformatory tour than just the movie.
It gave a fascinating – and simultaneously bleak – insight into what life was like in the prison before it closed in 1990 due to inhumane conditions and overcrowding.
We spent over two hours looking around but could easily have spent longer there, so plan accordingly. Even if you’ve watched The Shawshank Redemption before, I’d recommend rewatching it before visiting. We streamed the movie the night before which was great as it helped remind us of certain scenes as we explored the prison.
Cost
Self-guided tours the day we visited were $12 per adult. I’d noticed beforehand though that they had discounted tickets available on Groupon at only $16 for two people. With a 20% Groupon discount code and a discounted Groupon gift card, our net cost was $5.12 per person – a saving of almost 60%.
Address
Ohio State Reformatory, 100 Reformatory Rd, Mansfield, OH 44905.
I know all to well of the conditions of this horrible place because I was an inmate there. #116338 was my prison number. I still have nightmares and PTSD from being in there for 3 yrs. It was a very inhumane place even if you are a prisoner.
Thanks for sharing your experience – I’m sorry you and other prisoners were treated so badly there.