Central Ohio's Historic Prisons

Images of America: Ohio

by David Meyers, Elise Meyers

With the opening of the Ohio State Reformatory in 1896, the state legislature had put in place "the most complete prison system, in theory, which exists in the United States." The reformatory joined the Ohio Penitentiary and the Boys Industrial School, also central-Ohio institutions, to form the first instance of "graded prisons; with the reform farm on one side of the new prison, for juvenile offenders, and the penitentiary on the other, for all the more hardened and incorrigible class." However, even as the concept was being replicated throughout the country, the staffs of the institutions were faced with the day-to-day struggle of actually making the system work.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

128 pages, Paperback

First published October 7, 2009

Reviews

[Talia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, filled with old pictures and illustrations, follows three now-defunct prisons: the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus, the Industrial Boys' School near Lancaster, and the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

love the history