Huttonsville Correctional Center
Encyclopedia
Maximum Security
"Maximum Security" was a comic book story line and company-wide crossover that ran through a three-issue, self-titled limited series and individual issues of the other titles published by Marvel Comics with a cover date of either December 2000 or January 2001...
prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
for the state of West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It is located near Huttonsville
Huttonsville, West Virginia
Huttonsville is a town in Randolph County, West Virginia, United States, along the Tygart Valley River. The population was 217 at the 2000 census.-History:...
in a rural area of Randolph County, West Virginia
Randolph County, West Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 28,262 people, 11,072 households, and 7,661 families residing in the county. The population density was 27 people per square mile . There were 13,478 housing units at an average density of 13 per square mile...
.
The prison was established as the Farm Branch of the West Virginia Penitentiary in 1937 in response to overcrowding at the West Virginia Penitentiary in Moundsville, West Virginia
Moundsville, West Virginia
Moundsville is a city in Marshall County, West Virginia, along the Ohio River. It is part of the Wheeling Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 9,998 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Marshall County. The city was named for the Grave Creek Mound. Moundsville was settled in...
. It was renamed as the West Virginia Medium Security Prison in 1947 and to its current name in 1970.
The original focus of the prison was as a labor intensive general purpose farm
Farm
A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...
. In 1977 the 5000 acres (20.2 km²) farm was turned over to the state Farm Management Commission and convered to a beef cattle
Cattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
operation, and the majority of inmates were transferred to other work. Today inmates work on the cattle farm, in a furniture
Furniture
Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating and sleeping in beds, to hold objects at a convenient height for work using horizontal surfaces above the ground, or to store things...
plant, automotive parts shop, and welding shop. The prison is the largest transcriber of textbook
Textbook
A textbook or coursebook is a manual of instruction in any branch of study. Textbooks are produced according to the demands of educational institutions...
s into Braille
Braille
The Braille system is a method that is widely used by blind people to read and write, and was the first digital form of writing.Braille was devised in 1825 by Louis Braille, a blind Frenchman. Each Braille character, or cell, is made up of six dot positions, arranged in a rectangle containing two...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, accounting for almost 90% of the Braille textbooks.
The current capacity of the prison is 995. The majority of inmates live in barracks
Barracks
Barracks are specialised buildings for permanent military accommodation; the word may apply to separate housing blocks or to complete complexes. Their main object is to separate soldiers from the civilian population and reinforce discipline, training and esprit de corps. They were sometimes called...
style housing, but two new 120-inmate cell units were opened in 2000. There is also a 100-inmate "intense rehabilitation program" which is similar to military basic training
Basic Training
Basic Training may refer to:* Basic Training, a 1971 American documentary directed by Frederick Wiseman* Basic Training , an American sex comedy* Recruit training...
and which lasts for a period of 9-12 months.