Return to Shawshank…

About an hour north of Columbus, OH, is the town of Mansfield, OH. Mansfield is one of those semi depressing little Ohio towns whose good ole days are long since past. But, Mansfield is not without at least one national claim to fame. Back in 1993, the Hollywood stars, film makers, and the hundreds of film crew descended on Mansfield for what the locals call…the Summer of Shawshank. The highly acclaimed movie, Shawshank Redemption, was almost entirely shot in Mansfield, OH. I do not believe the reason for choosing Mansfield had anything to do with the city’s natural scenic beauty. Rather, Mansfield is the site of the old Ohio State Reformatory. Now, lets Return to Shawshank…

The Ohio State Reformatory accepted its first “guests” in 1896. When it actually opened, it was somewhat progressive in its approach to incarceration. Originally, this reformatory was truly focused on rehabilitation with the claim that all prisoners will receive “religion, education, and a trade.” Well, that was a good start, but it did not stay that way. In the early 1960s, the state pulled a lot of the funding which effectively ended many of the rehabilitating programs. At that point, the place started accepting more hardened visitors and really descended into a maximum security hell hole. Ultimately, due to legal actions bought about because of the poor conditions, the Ohio State Reformatory was finally closed in 1990.

So, that is the harsh real history. The good news is that the non-profit group, Mansfield Reformatory Preservation Society, stepped in and took over the place. The prison is now open 7 days a week. There is a wonderful self guided tour about the place…or you can pay for a guided tour. You truly get an interesting and depressing view into the conditions of this place. The depressing cells where these prisoners lived out their lives. The rows and rows of cells stacked upon each other. The absolutely scary “SHU” (solitary housing unit) which is a hole you did not want to be in. But, the worst thing to me was the dreaded group showers. I do not want to think on this any further.

For the sake of blog accuracy, I should say that only certain scenes were shot in the actual prison. The scenes shot in the prison tended to be all the outside “yard” shots, external building shots, the warden/administration offices and the shower scenes. The film makers also used a warehouse in downtown Mansfield and rebuilt three stories of prison cells for the inside shots. This warehouse no longer exists. Do you remember the “tree” outside of the prison where Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) left Red (Morgan Freeman) the note as to his current whereabouts. That tree is on private property a couple miles away from the prison. There is a marker on the road, but the owners try to discourage people from actually visiting the tree. Anyway, the tree got struck by lightning and fell a couple years ago. There is not much left to see. If you are a die hard, Shawshank fan, you can take some complete Shawshank tour that will take you though the prison, then bus you around the whole area pointing out anything remotely Shawshank. I do not endorse this….the self guided tour with head phones is excellent enough. Oh, almost forgot…there are also very scary over night ghost tours available here, as well as a renowned haunted house tours during Halloween season.

The Ohio State Reformatory makes for a good day trip if you are in the area. Return to Shawshank…for a great piece of harsh Americana. PT

Thank you for reading Return to Shawshank…on Traveling with PugsleyTonks

Thank you to Atlas Obscura

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