West Virginia State Penitentiary
Encyclopedia
The West Virginia State Penitentiary is a retired, gothic
style prison located in Moundsville, West Virginia
. It operated from 1876 to 1995. Currently, the site is maintained as a tourist attraction and training facility.
with its castellated Gothic, stone structure, complete with turrets and battlements, except only half the size. Unfortunately, the original architectural designs have been lost. The dimensions of the parallelogram-shaped prison yard are 82½ feet in length, by 352½ feet in width. The stone walls are 5 feet (1.5 m) thick at the base, tapering to 2½ feet at the top, with foundations 5 feet (1.5 m) deep. The center tower section is 682 feet (207.9 m) long. It lies at the western side of the complex along Jefferson Avenue and is considered the front, as this is where the main entrance is located. The walls here are 24 feet (7.3 m) high and 6 feet (1.8 m) wide at the base, tapering to 18 inches (457.2 mm) towards the top.
seceded from Virginia
at the height of the American Civil War
. Consequently, the new state had a shortage of various public institutions, including prisons.The Wagon Gate was the only building at this site, during the Civil War From 1863 to 1866, Governor Arthur I. Boreman
lobbied the West Virginia Legislature
for a state penitentiary but was repeatedly denied. The Legislature at first tried to direct him to send the prisoners to other institutions out of the state, and then they directed him to use existing county jails, which turned out to be inadequate. After nine inmates escaped in 1865, the local press took up the cause, and the Legislature took action. On 7 February 1866, the state legislature approved the purchase of land in Moundsville for the purpose of constructing a state prison. Ten acres were purchased just outside of the then city limits of Moundsville for $3000. Moundsville proved an attractive site, as it is approximately twelve miles south of Wheeling, West Virginia
, which at that time was the state capital.
The state built a temporary wooden prison nearby that summer. This gave prison officials time to assess what prison design should be used. Northern Illinois Penitentiary at Joliet proved to be an attractive design. Its Gothic Revival architecture "exhibit[ed], as much as possible, great strength and convey[ed] to the mind a cheerless blank indicative of the misery which awaits the unhappy being who enters within its walls."
The first building constructed on the site was the North Wagon Gate. It was made with hand-cut sandstone
, which was quarried from a local site. The state used prison labor during the construction process, and work continued on this first phase until 1876. When completed, the total cost was of $363,061. In addition to the North Wagon Gate, there was now north and south cellblock areas (both measuring 300 ft. by 52 ft.). South Hall had 224 cells (7 ft. by 4 ft.), and North Hall had a kitchen, dining area, hospital, and chapel. A 4-story tower connecting the two was the administration building (measuring 75 ft. by 75 ft.). It included space for female inmates and personal living quarters for the warden and his family. The facility officially opened in this year, and it had a prison population of 251 male inmates, including some who had helped construct the very prison that now held them. After this phase, work began on prison workshops and other secondary facilities.
shop, a paint
shop, a wagon
shop, a stone yard
, a brickyard
, a blacksmith
, a tailor
, a baker
y, and a hospital
. At the same time, revenue from the prison farm and inmate labor helped the prison financially. It was virtually self-sufficient. A prison coal
mine
located a mile away opened in 1921. This mine helped serve some of the prison's energy needs and saved the state an estimated $14,000 a year. Some inmates were allowed to stay at the mine's camp under the supervision of a mine foreman, who was not a prison employee.
Conditions at the prison during the turn of the 20th century were good, according to a warden's report, which stated that, "both the quantity and the quality of all the purchases of material, food and clothing have been very gradually, but steadily, improved, while the discipline has become more nearly perfect and the exaction of labor less stringent." Education was a priority for the inmates during this time. They regularly attended class. Construction on a school and library was completed in 1900 to help reform and educate inmates.
However, the conditions at the prison worsened through the years, as the facility would be ranked on the United States Department of Justice's
Top Ten Most Violent Correctional Facilities list. One of the more infamous locations in the prison, with instances of gambling, fighting,and raping, was a recreation room known as "The Sugar Shack".
A notable inmate in the early 20th Century was Eugene V. Debs
, who served time here from April 13 to June 14, 1919 (at which time he was transferred to an Atlanta prison) for violating the Espionage Act of 1917
.
In 1929, the state decided to double the size of the penitentiary because overcrowding was a problem. The 5 x 7 feet (2.1 m) cells were too small to hold three prisoners at a time, but until the expansion there was no other option. Two prisoners would sleep in the bunks with the third sleeping on a mattress on the floor. The state utilized prison labor once again and completed this phase of construction in 1959. The construction had been delayed by a steel
shortage during World War II
.
In total, thirty-six homicides took place in the prison. One of the more notable ones is the butchering of R.D. Wall, inmate number 44670. On October 8, 1929, after "snitching" on his fellow inmates, he was attacked by three prisoners with dull shivs
while heading to the boiler room.
In 1983, Charles Manson
requested to be transferred to this prison to be nearer to his family. His request was denied.
Police Department on May 12, 1975. He managed to steal a prison guard's service weapon in the escape, and upon reaching the streets of Moundsville, encountered twenty-three-year-old off-duty West Virginia State Trooper Philip S. Kesner, who was driving past the prison with his wife.
Trooper Kesner saw the escapees and attempted to take action against them. The prisoners pulled him from his car and Williams shot him. Trooper Kesner returned fire at the fleeing suspects despite being mortally wounded.
Williams remained at large for eighteen months, sending taunting notes to authorities and making the FBI's
Ten Most Wanted List
. During that time, he murdered John Bunchek in Scottsdale, Arizona
during a robbery and was connected to crimes in Colorado
and Pennsylvania
. After a shootout with federal agents at the George Washington Hotel in New York City in 1981, he was apprehended and returned to West Virginia to complete several life sentences. Arizona had sought his extradition for his execution, but as of he remains in West Virginia custody.
At the time, Marshall County Sheriff Robert Lightner was very critical over the poor police communications during the break. The sheriff's office and local police did not learn about the escape from the state police. They first heard of it over the police scanner. "It was a good twenty minutes before we knew about the escape. If somebody had notified us, there's a good chance that the sheriff's department and the Moundsville police could have been on the scene while all the prisoners were still on the block." He was also critical of the four-state manhunt that followed, when convicted murderers David Morgan and Ronald T. Williams, along with convicted rapist Harold Gowers Jr., remained at large. "Communications have been very poor. I think they should keep the local law enforcement officers more informed I have no idea what they're doing, what they've found."
At around 5:30 pm, twenty inmates, known as a group called the Avengers, stormed the mess hall as Captain Glassock was on duty. "Within seconds, he (Captain Glassock), five other guards, and a food service worker were tackled and slammed to the floor. Inmates put knives to their throats and handcuffed them with their own handcuffs." Even though several hostages were taken throughout the day, none of them were seriously injured. However, over the course of the two-day upheaval, three inmates were slaughtered for an assortment of reasons. "The inmates who initiated the riot were not prepared to take charge of it. Danny Lehman, the Avengers' president, was quickly agreed upon as best suited for the task of negotiating with authorities and presenting the demands to the media." Yet, Lehman was not a part of the twenty men who began the riot. Governor Arch A. Moore, Jr.
was sent to the penitentiary to converse with the inmates. This meeting set up a new list of rules and standards on which the prison would build. National and local news covered the story, as well as the inmates meeting with Governor Moore.
which stated that the 5 x 7 feet (2.1 m) cells were cruel and unusual punishment. Within nine years, the West Virginia State Penitentiary was closed as a prison. Most of the inmates were transferred to the Mt. Olive Correctional Complex
in Fayette County, West Virginia
. A smaller correctional facility was built a mile away in Moundsville to serve as a regional jail.
. Hanging
was the method of execution until 1949 with eighty-five men meeting that fate. The public could attend hangings until June 19, 1931. On that date, Frank Hyer was executed for murdering his wife. However, when the trap door beneath him was opened and his full weight was put onto the noose, he was instantly decapitated. Following this event, attendance at hangings was by invitation only. The last man to face execution by hanging, Bud Peterson from Logan County
, lies in the prison's cemetery, as his family refused to claim his body. Beginning in 1951, electrocution became the means of execution. Ironically, the electric chair
, nicknamed "Old Sparky", used by the prison was originally built by an inmate there, Paul Glenn. Nine men died in the chair until the state outlawed execution entirely in 1965. The original chair is on display in the facility and is a part of the official tour.
called the "Dungeon of Horrors" is also set up for the Halloween
season. Paranormal groups and enthusiast travel guides consider Moundsville Prison to be one of the most haunted prisons in the United States, with ghost stories
originating as early as the 1930s. Legends include the prison occupying the site of a Native American burial ground. Reports include former guards seeing phantom inmates and a "shadow man
" wandering the premises, as well as unexplained noises, voices, and cold spots.
set his 1953 novel The Night of the Hunter in Moundsville with the prison having a notable role. This novel was adapted into a film by Charles Laughton
and James Agee
. The film The Night of the Hunter
starred Robert Mitchum
and Shelley Winters
. Davis Grubb also set his novel Fools' Parade (also known as Dynamite Man from Glory Jail) in Moundsville with the penitentiary serving a notable role here too. The novel was adapted into the 1971 film, Fools' Parade, starring James Stewart
, Kurt Russell
, and George Kennedy
.
MTV
debuted a show in 2000 named Fear
. This show allowed six college students to experience the so-called "haunted prison" for themselves. The first episode had a small number of young adults spending the night in the penitentiary, attempting to document any paranormal activities. The Syfy
's show Ghost Hunters
also visited the location in episode 303, which originally aired on October 25, 2006. ABC Family
’s Scariest Places on Earth
featured the Penitentiary on October 29, 2006. The prison was also featured in 2008 on the Travel Channel
's Ghost Adventures
. The team of the A&E
television show Paranormal State
also visited the prison. Additionally, the prison was investigated by Everyday Paranormal and featured on their Discovery Channel show Ghost Lab
on November 20, 2010.
The West Virginia Penitentiary is also the setting for two Left 4 Dead
video game campaigns titled Moundsville Slammer. The campaign's original incarnation has garnered over 10,000 downloads. while the 2.0 release has received 8,234 downloads as of this writing. The campaign data was developed using LIDAR
laser range finding techniques
The West Virginia Penitentiary will serve as the fictitious Statesville Penitentiary in Cync Entertainment's upcoming thriller, "Hidden." Production on "Hidden," scheduled for early 2011, will mark the 40-year anniversary of the prison appearing in a motion picture. The facility was last seen on film in "Fools' Parade
."
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
style prison located 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 operated from 1876 to 1995. Currently, the site is maintained as a tourist attraction and training facility.
Design
The West Virginia State Penitentiary's design is similar to the facility at JolietJoliet Prison
Joliet Correctional Center was a prison in Joliet, Illinois, United States from 1858 to 2002. It is featured in the motion picture The Blues Brothers as the prison from which Jake Blues is released at the beginning of the movie...
with its castellated Gothic, stone structure, complete with turrets and battlements, except only half the size. Unfortunately, the original architectural designs have been lost. The dimensions of the parallelogram-shaped prison yard are 82½ feet in length, by 352½ feet in width. The stone walls are 5 feet (1.5 m) thick at the base, tapering to 2½ feet at the top, with foundations 5 feet (1.5 m) deep. The center tower section is 682 feet (207.9 m) long. It lies at the western side of the complex along Jefferson Avenue and is considered the front, as this is where the main entrance is located. The walls here are 24 feet (7.3 m) high and 6 feet (1.8 m) wide at the base, tapering to 18 inches (457.2 mm) towards the top.
Founding
In 1863, West VirginiaWest 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...
seceded from Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
at the height of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. Consequently, the new state had a shortage of various public institutions, including prisons.The Wagon Gate was the only building at this site, during the Civil War From 1863 to 1866, Governor Arthur I. Boreman
Arthur I. Boreman
Arthur Inghram Boreman was the first Governor of the U.S. state of West Virginia and a United States Senator.-Biography:...
lobbied the West Virginia Legislature
West Virginia Legislature
The West Virginia Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of West Virginia. A bicameral legislative body, the Legislature is split between the upper Senate and the lower House of Delegates. It was established under Article VI of the West Virginia Constitution following the state's...
for a state penitentiary but was repeatedly denied. The Legislature at first tried to direct him to send the prisoners to other institutions out of the state, and then they directed him to use existing county jails, which turned out to be inadequate. After nine inmates escaped in 1865, the local press took up the cause, and the Legislature took action. On 7 February 1866, the state legislature approved the purchase of land in Moundsville for the purpose of constructing a state prison. Ten acres were purchased just outside of the then city limits of Moundsville for $3000. Moundsville proved an attractive site, as it is approximately twelve miles south of Wheeling, West Virginia
Wheeling, West Virginia
Wheeling is a city in Ohio and Marshall counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia; it is the county seat of Ohio County. Wheeling is the principal city of the Wheeling Metropolitan Statistical Area...
, which at that time was the state capital.
The state built a temporary wooden prison nearby that summer. This gave prison officials time to assess what prison design should be used. Northern Illinois Penitentiary at Joliet proved to be an attractive design. Its Gothic Revival architecture "exhibit[ed], as much as possible, great strength and convey[ed] to the mind a cheerless blank indicative of the misery which awaits the unhappy being who enters within its walls."
The first building constructed on the site was the North Wagon Gate. It was made with hand-cut sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
, which was quarried from a local site. The state used prison labor during the construction process, and work continued on this first phase until 1876. When completed, the total cost was of $363,061. In addition to the North Wagon Gate, there was now north and south cellblock areas (both measuring 300 ft. by 52 ft.). South Hall had 224 cells (7 ft. by 4 ft.), and North Hall had a kitchen, dining area, hospital, and chapel. A 4-story tower connecting the two was the administration building (measuring 75 ft. by 75 ft.). It included space for female inmates and personal living quarters for the warden and his family. The facility officially opened in this year, and it had a prison population of 251 male inmates, including some who had helped construct the very prison that now held them. After this phase, work began on prison workshops and other secondary facilities.
Operation
In addition to construction, the inmates had other jobs to do in support of the prison. In the early 1900s some industries within the prison walls included a carpentryCarpenter
A carpenter is a skilled craftsperson who works with timber to construct, install and maintain buildings, furniture, and other objects. The work, known as carpentry, may involve manual labor and work outdoors....
shop, a paint
Paint
Paint is any liquid, liquefiable, or mastic composition which after application to a substrate in a thin layer is converted to an opaque solid film. One may also consider the digital mimicry thereof...
shop, a wagon
Wagon
A wagon is a heavy four-wheeled vehicle pulled by draught animals; it was formerly often called a wain, and if low and sideless may be called a dray, trolley or float....
shop, a stone yard
Quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...
, a brickyard
Brickyard
A brickyard is a place or yard where the earthen building material called bricks are made, fired, and stored, or sometimes sold or otherwise distributed from.-See also:...
, a blacksmith
Blacksmith
A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...
, a tailor
Tailor
A tailor is a person who makes, repairs, or alters clothing professionally, especially suits and men's clothing.Although the term dates to the thirteenth century, tailor took on its modern sense in the late eighteenth century, and now refers to makers of men's and women's suits, coats, trousers,...
, a baker
Baker
A baker is someone who bakes and sells bread, Cakes and similar foods may also be produced, as the traditional boundaries between what is produced by a baker as opposed to a pastry chef have blurred in recent decades...
y, and a hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
. At the same time, revenue from the prison farm and inmate labor helped the prison financially. It was virtually self-sufficient. A prison coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
mine
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
located a mile away opened in 1921. This mine helped serve some of the prison's energy needs and saved the state an estimated $14,000 a year. Some inmates were allowed to stay at the mine's camp under the supervision of a mine foreman, who was not a prison employee.
Conditions at the prison during the turn of the 20th century were good, according to a warden's report, which stated that, "both the quantity and the quality of all the purchases of material, food and clothing have been very gradually, but steadily, improved, while the discipline has become more nearly perfect and the exaction of labor less stringent." Education was a priority for the inmates during this time. They regularly attended class. Construction on a school and library was completed in 1900 to help reform and educate inmates.
However, the conditions at the prison worsened through the years, as the facility would be ranked on the United States Department of Justice's
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
Top Ten Most Violent Correctional Facilities list. One of the more infamous locations in the prison, with instances of gambling, fighting,and raping, was a recreation room known as "The Sugar Shack".
A notable inmate in the early 20th Century was Eugene V. Debs
Eugene V. Debs
Eugene Victor Debs was an American union leader, one of the founding members of the International Labor Union and the Industrial Workers of the World , and several times the candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States...
, who served time here from April 13 to June 14, 1919 (at which time he was transferred to an Atlanta prison) for violating the Espionage Act of 1917
Espionage Act of 1917
The Espionage Act of 1917 is a United States federal law passed on June 15, 1917, shortly after the U.S. entry into World War I. It has been amended numerous times over the years. It was originally found in Title 50 of the U.S. Code but is now found under Title 18, Crime...
.
In 1929, the state decided to double the size of the penitentiary because overcrowding was a problem. The 5 x 7 feet (2.1 m) cells were too small to hold three prisoners at a time, but until the expansion there was no other option. Two prisoners would sleep in the bunks with the third sleeping on a mattress on the floor. The state utilized prison labor once again and completed this phase of construction in 1959. The construction had been delayed by a steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
shortage during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
In total, thirty-six homicides took place in the prison. One of the more notable ones is the butchering of R.D. Wall, inmate number 44670. On October 8, 1929, after "snitching" on his fellow inmates, he was attacked by three prisoners with dull shivs
Shiv (weapon)
A shiv is a slang term for any sharp or pointed implement used as a knife-like weapon. However, the word in practical usage is frequently used when referring to an improvised bladed weapon. Shivs are commonly made by inmates in prisons across the world...
while heading to the boiler room.
In 1983, Charles Manson
Charles Manson
Charles Milles Manson is an American criminal who led what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune that arose in California in the late 1960s. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit the Tate/LaBianca murders carried out by members of the group at his instruction...
requested to be transferred to this prison to be nearer to his family. His request was denied.
1979 prison break
On Wednesday, November 7, 1979, fifteen prisoners escaped from the prison. One of the escapees was Ronald Turney Williams, serving time for murdering Sergeant David Lilly of the BeckleyBeckley, West Virginia
Beckley is a city in Raleigh County, West Virginia, United States, which was founded on April 4, 1838. The 2008 population was estimated to be 16,832 by the U.S. Census Bureau. Early in its history, the town was known as Beckleyville and Raleigh Court House...
Police Department on May 12, 1975. He managed to steal a prison guard's service weapon in the escape, and upon reaching the streets of Moundsville, encountered twenty-three-year-old off-duty West Virginia State Trooper Philip S. Kesner, who was driving past the prison with his wife.
Trooper Kesner saw the escapees and attempted to take action against them. The prisoners pulled him from his car and Williams shot him. Trooper Kesner returned fire at the fleeing suspects despite being mortally wounded.
Williams remained at large for eighteen months, sending taunting notes to authorities and making the FBI's
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
Ten Most Wanted List
FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives
The FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list arose from a conversation held in late 1949 between J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, and William Kinsey Hutchinson, International News Service Editor-in-Chief, who were discussing ways to promote capture of the...
. During that time, he murdered John Bunchek in Scottsdale, Arizona
Scottsdale, Arizona
Scottsdale is a city in the eastern part of Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, adjacent to Phoenix. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2010 the population of the city was 217,385...
during a robbery and was connected to crimes in Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
and Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. After a shootout with federal agents at the George Washington Hotel in New York City in 1981, he was apprehended and returned to West Virginia to complete several life sentences. Arizona had sought his extradition for his execution, but as of he remains in West Virginia custody.
At the time, Marshall County Sheriff Robert Lightner was very critical over the poor police communications during the break. The sheriff's office and local police did not learn about the escape from the state police. They first heard of it over the police scanner. "It was a good twenty minutes before we knew about the escape. If somebody had notified us, there's a good chance that the sheriff's department and the Moundsville police could have been on the scene while all the prisoners were still on the block." He was also critical of the four-state manhunt that followed, when convicted murderers David Morgan and Ronald T. Williams, along with convicted rapist Harold Gowers Jr., remained at large. "Communications have been very poor. I think they should keep the local law enforcement officers more informed I have no idea what they're doing, what they've found."
1986 riot
January 1, 1986 was not only the beginning of a new year, but also the date of one of the most infamous riots in recent history. The West Virginia Penitentiary was then undergoing many changes and problems. Security had become extremely loose in all areas. Since it was a "cons" prison, most of the locks on the cells had been picked and inmates roamed the halls freely. Bad plumbing and insects caused rapid spreading of various diseases. The prison was now holding more than 2,000 men and crowding became an issue once again. Another major contribution to the riot's cause was the fact that it was a holiday. Many of the guards had called off work, which fueled the prisoners to conduct their plan on this specific day.At around 5:30 pm, twenty inmates, known as a group called the Avengers, stormed the mess hall as Captain Glassock was on duty. "Within seconds, he (Captain Glassock), five other guards, and a food service worker were tackled and slammed to the floor. Inmates put knives to their throats and handcuffed them with their own handcuffs." Even though several hostages were taken throughout the day, none of them were seriously injured. However, over the course of the two-day upheaval, three inmates were slaughtered for an assortment of reasons. "The inmates who initiated the riot were not prepared to take charge of it. Danny Lehman, the Avengers' president, was quickly agreed upon as best suited for the task of negotiating with authorities and presenting the demands to the media." Yet, Lehman was not a part of the twenty men who began the riot. Governor Arch A. Moore, Jr.
Arch A. Moore, Jr.
Arch Alfred Moore, Jr. was the 28th and 30th Governor of West Virginia from 1969 until 1977 and from 1985 until 1989. He was a Congressman from 1957 until entering the governor's office. He is a member of the United States Republican Party. He ran for reelection in 1988, but was defeated by...
was sent to the penitentiary to converse with the inmates. This meeting set up a new list of rules and standards on which the prison would build. National and local news covered the story, as well as the inmates meeting with Governor Moore.
Decommissioning
Towards the end of its life as a prison, the facility was marked with many instances of riots and escapes. In the 1960s, the prison reached a peak population of about 2,000 inmates. With the building of more prisons, that number declined to 600 - 700 inmates by 1995. The fate of the prison was sealed in a 1986 ruling by the West Virginia Supreme CourtSupreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia
The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia is the state supreme court of West Virginia, the highest of West Virginia's state courts. It is located in the state capital, Charleston....
which stated that the 5 x 7 feet (2.1 m) cells were cruel and unusual punishment. Within nine years, the West Virginia State Penitentiary was closed as a prison. Most of the inmates were transferred to the Mt. Olive Correctional Complex
Mt. Olive Correctional Complex
Mount Olive Correctional Complex is the male maximum security prison for the state of West Virginia, USA. Its security level is equal to the federal level 5...
in Fayette County, West Virginia
Fayette County, West Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 47,579 people, 18,945 households, and 13,128 families residing in the county. The population density was 72 people per square mile . There were 21,616 housing units at an average density of 33 per square mile...
. A smaller correctional facility was built a mile away in Moundsville to serve as a regional jail.
Executions
From 1899 to 1959, ninety-four men were executedCapital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
. Hanging
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
was the method of execution until 1949 with eighty-five men meeting that fate. The public could attend hangings until June 19, 1931. On that date, Frank Hyer was executed for murdering his wife. However, when the trap door beneath him was opened and his full weight was put onto the noose, he was instantly decapitated. Following this event, attendance at hangings was by invitation only. The last man to face execution by hanging, Bud Peterson from Logan County
Logan County, West Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 37,710 people, 14,880 households, and 10,936 families residing in the county. The population density was 83 people per square mile . There were 16,807 housing units at an average density of 37 per square mile...
, lies in the prison's cemetery, as his family refused to claim his body. Beginning in 1951, electrocution became the means of execution. Ironically, the electric chair
Old Sparky
Old Sparky is the nickname of the electric chairs in Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, New York, Texas, and Virginia. It was the nickname of the long-retired electric chair at the now-closed West Virginia State Penitentiary in Moundsville, West...
, nicknamed "Old Sparky", used by the prison was originally built by an inmate there, Paul Glenn. Nine men died in the chair until the state outlawed execution entirely in 1965. The original chair is on display in the facility and is a part of the official tour.
Training
After the prison closed its doors as a state institution, the Moundsville Economic Development Council obtained a 25-year lease on the complex. The facility is used for training law enforcement and corrections practitioners with regular mock-riot drills. To assist teams in the planning and execution of scenarios the West Virginia High Technology Consortium Foundation commissioned The 3D Model of the West Virginia Penitentiary, an interactive 3D model of the penitentiary, and made the software available to the public prior to the 2009 Mock Prison Riot. Some previous training programs for law enforcement officials that took place here, such as the National Corrections and Law Enforcement Training and Technology Center, are now discontinued.Tourism
Tours are available for tourists wishing to see the prison. The Elizabethtown Festival is held every May to celebrate and remember historic Moundsville. A haunted attractionHaunted attraction
A haunted attraction is a form of entertainment that simulates the experience of entering a haunted location that might be inhabited by ghosts, monsters, criminals, humorous characters, and other such creatures...
called the "Dungeon of Horrors" is also set up for the Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
season. Paranormal groups and enthusiast travel guides consider Moundsville Prison to be one of the most haunted prisons in the United States, with ghost stories
Ghost story
A ghost story may be any piece of fiction, or drama, or an account of an experience, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them. Colloquially, the term can refer to any kind of scary story. In a narrower sense, the ghost story has...
originating as early as the 1930s. Legends include the prison occupying the site of a Native American burial ground. Reports include former guards seeing phantom inmates and a "shadow man
Shadow people
Shadow people are supernatural shadow-like humanoid figures that, according to believers, are seen mostly in peripheral vision and move quickly...
" wandering the premises, as well as unexplained noises, voices, and cold spots.
In popular culture
The prison has appeared in various books, movies, and television shows. Moundsville native Davis GrubbDavis Grubb
Davis Grubb was an American novelist and short story writer.-Biography:Born in Moundsville, West Virginia, Grubb wanted to combine his creative skills as a painter with writing and as such attended the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
set his 1953 novel The Night of the Hunter in Moundsville with the prison having a notable role. This novel was adapted into a film by Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton was an English-American stage and film actor, screenwriter, producer and director.-Early life and career:...
and James Agee
James Agee
James Rufus Agee was an American author, journalist, poet, screenwriter and film critic. In the 1940s, he was one of the most influential film critics in the U.S...
. The film The Night of the Hunter
The Night of the Hunter (film)
The Night of the Hunter is a 1955 American thriller film directed by Charles Laughton and starring Robert Mitchum and Shelley Winters. The film is based on the 1953 novel of the same name by Davis Grubb, adapted for the screen by James Agee and Laughton...
starred Robert Mitchum
Robert Mitchum
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum was an American film actor, author, composer and singer and is #23 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male American screen legends of all time...
and Shelley Winters
Shelley Winters
Shelley Winters was an American actress who appeared in dozens of films, as well as on stage and television; her career spanned over 50 years until her death in 2006...
. Davis Grubb also set his novel Fools' Parade (also known as Dynamite Man from Glory Jail) in Moundsville with the penitentiary serving a notable role here too. The novel was adapted into the 1971 film, Fools' Parade, starring James Stewart
James Stewart (actor)
James Maitland Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...
, Kurt Russell
Kurt Russell
Kurt Vogel Russell is an American television and film actor. His first acting roles were as a child in television series, including a lead role in the Western series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters...
, and George Kennedy
George Kennedy
George Harris Kennedy, Jr. is an American actor who has appeared in over 200 film and television productions. He is perhaps most familiar as the convict Dragline in Cool Hand Luke , airline troubleshooter Joe Patroni in the Airport series of disaster movies from the 1970s and...
.
MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
debuted a show in 2000 named Fear
MTV's Fear
MTV's Fear is an American paranormal reality television series that originally aired from 2000 to 2002 on MTV. The program follows a group of 5 or more contestants being left at an allegedly haunted location and led them on a series of dares over two nights to explore and confirm whether or not the...
. This show allowed six college students to experience the so-called "haunted prison" for themselves. The first episode had a small number of young adults spending the night in the penitentiary, attempting to document any paranormal activities. The Syfy
Syfy
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
's show Ghost Hunters
Ghost Hunters
Ghost Hunters is an American paranormal reality television series that premiered on October 6, 2004, on Syfy . The program features paranormal investigators Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson who investigate places that are reported to be haunted. The two originally worked as plumbers for Roto-Rooter as...
also visited the location in episode 303, which originally aired on October 25, 2006. ABC Family
ABC Family
ABC Family, stylized as abc family, is an American television network, owned by ABC Family Worldwide Inc., a subsidiary of the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company...
’s Scariest Places on Earth
Scariest Places On Earth
Scariest Places on Earth is an American paranormal documentary reality television series that originally aired from October 23, 2000 to October 29, 2006. The program was produced by Triage Entertainment for the Fox Family Channel, which is now ABC Family and owns the rights to the show...
featured the Penitentiary on October 29, 2006. The prison was also featured in 2008 on the Travel Channel
Travel Channel
The Travel Channel is a satellite and cable television channel that is headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland, US. It features documentaries and how-to shows related to travel and leisure around the United States and throughout the world. Programming has included shows in African animal safaris,...
's Ghost Adventures
Ghost Adventures
Ghost Adventures is a weekly American paranormal television series that premiered on October 17, 2008 on the Travel Channel. Currently produced by MY-Tupelo Entertainment , the program follows and stars ghost hunters Zak Bagans, Nick Groff, and Aaron Goodwin, as they investigate locations that are...
. The team of the A&E
A&E Network
The A&E Network is a United States-based cable and satellite television network with headquarters in New York City and offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, London, Los Angeles and Stamford. A&E also airs in Canada and Latin America. Initially named the Arts & Entertainment Network, A&E launched...
television show Paranormal State
Paranormal State
Paranormal State is an American paranormal reality television series that premiered on the A&E Network on December 10, 2007. The program follows and stars the Pennsylvania State University Paranormal Research Society, a student-led college club...
also visited the prison. Additionally, the prison was investigated by Everyday Paranormal and featured on their Discovery Channel show Ghost Lab
Ghost Lab
Ghost Lab is a weekly American paranormal documentary television series that premiered on October 6, 2009 on the Discovery Channel. Produced by Paper Route Productions and Go Go Luckey Entertainment, the program is narrated by Mike Rowe...
on November 20, 2010.
The West Virginia Penitentiary is also the setting for two Left 4 Dead
Left 4 Dead
Left 4 Dead is a cooperative first-person shooter video game. It was developed by Turtle Rock Studios, which was purchased by Valve Corporation during development. The game uses Valve's proprietary Source engine, and is available for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360 and Mac OS X...
video game campaigns titled Moundsville Slammer. The campaign's original incarnation has garnered over 10,000 downloads. while the 2.0 release has received 8,234 downloads as of this writing. The campaign data was developed using LIDAR
LIDAR
LIDAR is an optical remote sensing technology that can measure the distance to, or other properties of a target by illuminating the target with light, often using pulses from a laser...
laser range finding techniques
The West Virginia Penitentiary will serve as the fictitious Statesville Penitentiary in Cync Entertainment's upcoming thriller, "Hidden." Production on "Hidden," scheduled for early 2011, will mark the 40-year anniversary of the prison appearing in a motion picture. The facility was last seen on film in "Fools' Parade
Fools' Parade
Fools' Parade is a 1971 drama film directed by Andrew McLaglen and starring James Stewart, George Kennedy, Kurt Russell, and Strother Martin. It was based on the novel of the same name by Davis Grubb...
."