armed sentries, battlemented gables, grated windows and towering turrets, resembling the feudal castles of romance and barbarism.” Getting even closer to the looming structure, “the real character and purpose of the institution would be apparent to any intelligent mind; and perhaps would fill the place of [misplaced] envy for its unfortunate inmates.”1
Columbus, like a handful of other American cities—Huntsville, Texas, Clinton and Ossining, New York, and others—became synonymous with its famous prison, contrary to the expectations of the local chamber of commerce. The Ohio Penitentiary maintained a commanding presence on West Spring Street from 1834 to 1998, and even before that building was constructed, being “sent to Columbus” meant hard time for Ohio convicts. The prison became “a local landmark as easily identifiable with Ohio’s capital city as the statehouse.”2
As it stood in 1930, the Ohio Penitentiary was just the most recent version of a series of carceral structures purpose-built to handle an expanding clientele as Columbus grew throughout the nineteenth century. Formerly part of the Northwest Territory, Ohio joined the union as the seventeenth state in 1803. As a state, it adopted a number of law codes from surrounding states. The following decade was one of progress and development, in no small part due to the rapid influx of settlers and the removal of the Indian threat after the War of 1812. But it took almost a decade for the government to consider providing a facility specifically dedicated to the incarceration and punishment of malefactors. The first stride toward providing a prison for the new state took place in December 1811, when the legislature accepted a donation of two ten-acre plots of land, agreeing to the donor’s requirement that one plot would be used for a state house and the other for a state penitentiary. The offer also hinged on establishing the permanent seat of government on the donor’s land, located on the east bank of the Scioto River. After these proposals were accepted, the following February, “in accordance with them, a town which was destined to become the city of Columbus was surveyed,” with a patch of land set apart for the state prison.3
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.
