Tennessee State Prison
Encyclopedia
Tennessee State Prison is a former correctional facility located near downtown Nashville, Tennessee
. Opened in 1898, the prison has been closed since 1992. It has been the location for the films Nashville, Marie
, Ernest Goes to Jail
, Against the Wall
, The Green Mile
, The Last Castle
and Pillar
's "Bring Me Down" video. Most recently VH1
's Celebrity Paranormal Project
filmed there for the third episode of the series (titled "The Warden") as well as the last episode of the first season (titled "Dead Man Walking"). The prison was referred to as "The Walls Maximum Security Prison" in both episodes to protect the location's privacy.
, made famous for the lockstep marching, striped prisoner uniforms, nighttime solitary confinement, and daytime congregate work under strictly enforced silence. The new Tennessee prison contained 800 small cells, each designed to house a single inmate. In addition, an administration building and other smaller buildings for offices, warehouses, and factories were built within the twenty-foot (6.15m)high, three-foot (1 m) thick rock walls. The plan also provided for a working farm outside the walls and mandated a separate system for younger offenders to isolate them from older, hardened criminals.
The prison was built by Enoch Guy Elliott who was married to Lady Ida Beasley Elliott (Missionary to Burma). Gov. Turney made Enoch Guy Elliott the Chief Warden of the old prison and then during the building of the second prison, Enoch used primarily prison labor to build the new prison.
Construction costs for this second Tennessee State Penitentiary exceeded US$500,000 (US$12.3 million in 2007 dollars), not including the price of the land. The prison's 800 cells opened to receive prisoners on February 12, 1898, and that day admitted 1,403 prisoners, creating immediate overcrowding. To a greater or lesser extent, overcrowding persisted throughout the next century. The original Tennessee State Penitentiary on Church Street was demolished later that year, and salvageable materials were used in the construction of outbuildings at the new facility, creating a physical link from 1830 to the present.
Every convict was expected to defray a portion of the cost of incarceration by performing physical labor. Within two years, inmates worked up to sixteen hours per day for meager rations and unheated, unventilated sleeping quarters. The State also contracted with private companies to operate factories inside the prison walls using convict labor.
The Tennessee State Penitentiary had its share of problems. In 1902, seventeen prisoners blew out the end of one wing of the prison, killing one inmate and allowing the escape of two others who were never recaptured. Later, a group of inmates seized control of the segregated white wing and held it for eighteen hours before surrendering. In 1907 several convicts commandeered a switch engine and drove it through a prison gate. In 1938 inmates staged a mass escape. Several serious fires ignited at the penitentiary, including one that destroyed the main dining room. Riots occurred in 1975 and 1985.
In 1989 the Tennessee Department of Correction
opened a new penitentiary, the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution
at Nashville
. The old Tennessee State Penitentiary closed in June 1992. As part of the settlement in a class action suit, Grubbs v. Bradley (1983), the Federal Court issued a permanent injunction prohibiting the Tennessee Department of Correction from ever again housing inmates at the Tennessee State Prison.
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
. Opened in 1898, the prison has been closed since 1992. It has been the location for the films Nashville, Marie
Marie (film)
Marie is a 1985 film starring Sissy Spacek as the real-life Marie Ragghianti, former head of the Tennessee Board of Pardons and Paroles, who was removed from office in 1977 after refusing to release prisoners who had bribed aides to then-Governor Ray Blanton...
, Ernest Goes to Jail
Ernest Goes to Jail
Ernest Goes to Jail is a 1990 Touchstone Pictures comedy film directed by John R. Cherry III and starring Jim Varney. It is the fourth film to feature the character Ernest P. Worrell. It was shot in Nashville and Tennessee State Penitentiary. This is the second most successful of the Ernest films,...
, Against the Wall
Against The Wall
Against The Wall is a 1994 drama film starring Samuel L. Jackson and Kyle MacLachlan. It was shot in Nashville, Clarksville, and the Tennessee State Penitentiary. The film is loosely based on the true story of a prison riot at the Attica Correctional Facility. The tagline is "39 Men Died. The Story...
, The Green Mile
The Green Mile (film)
The Green Mile is a 1999 American drama film directed by Frank Darabont and adapted by him from the 1996 Stephen King novel of the same name...
, The Last Castle
The Last Castle
The Last Castle is a 2001 American drama film directed by Rod Lurie, starring Robert Redford, James Gandolfini, and Mark Ruffalo.The film portrays a struggle between inmates and the warden of the prison, based on the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth. Eugene Irwin, a highly...
and Pillar
Pillar (band)
Pillar is a Christian rock band currently located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Their sixth studio album, Confessions, was released in 2009.- Formation and independent albums :...
's "Bring Me Down" video. Most recently VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
's Celebrity Paranormal Project
Celebrity Paranormal Project
Celebrity Paranormal Project is a paranormal reality television series that originally aired from October 22, 2006 to November 1, 2007 on VH1. The show is currently on hiatus, so it is unknown if VH1 will re-air the show and begin with a second season...
filmed there for the third episode of the series (titled "The Warden") as well as the last episode of the first season (titled "Dead Man Walking"). The prison was referred to as "The Walls Maximum Security Prison" in both episodes to protect the location's privacy.
History
The proposed prison design called for the construction of a fortress-like structure patterned after the penitentiary at Auburn, New YorkAuburn, New York
Auburn is a city in Cayuga County, New York, United States of America. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 27,687...
, made famous for the lockstep marching, striped prisoner uniforms, nighttime solitary confinement, and daytime congregate work under strictly enforced silence. The new Tennessee prison contained 800 small cells, each designed to house a single inmate. In addition, an administration building and other smaller buildings for offices, warehouses, and factories were built within the twenty-foot (6.15m)high, three-foot (1 m) thick rock walls. The plan also provided for a working farm outside the walls and mandated a separate system for younger offenders to isolate them from older, hardened criminals.
The prison was built by Enoch Guy Elliott who was married to Lady Ida Beasley Elliott (Missionary to Burma). Gov. Turney made Enoch Guy Elliott the Chief Warden of the old prison and then during the building of the second prison, Enoch used primarily prison labor to build the new prison.
Construction costs for this second Tennessee State Penitentiary exceeded US$500,000 (US$12.3 million in 2007 dollars), not including the price of the land. The prison's 800 cells opened to receive prisoners on February 12, 1898, and that day admitted 1,403 prisoners, creating immediate overcrowding. To a greater or lesser extent, overcrowding persisted throughout the next century. The original Tennessee State Penitentiary on Church Street was demolished later that year, and salvageable materials were used in the construction of outbuildings at the new facility, creating a physical link from 1830 to the present.
Every convict was expected to defray a portion of the cost of incarceration by performing physical labor. Within two years, inmates worked up to sixteen hours per day for meager rations and unheated, unventilated sleeping quarters. The State also contracted with private companies to operate factories inside the prison walls using convict labor.
The Tennessee State Penitentiary had its share of problems. In 1902, seventeen prisoners blew out the end of one wing of the prison, killing one inmate and allowing the escape of two others who were never recaptured. Later, a group of inmates seized control of the segregated white wing and held it for eighteen hours before surrendering. In 1907 several convicts commandeered a switch engine and drove it through a prison gate. In 1938 inmates staged a mass escape. Several serious fires ignited at the penitentiary, including one that destroyed the main dining room. Riots occurred in 1975 and 1985.
In 1989 the Tennessee Department of Correction
Tennessee Department of Correction
The Tennessee Department of Correction is a Cabinet-level agency within the Tennessee state government, headed by the Tennessee Commissioner of Correction, who is currently Gayle E. Ray, who succeeded George Little on 1/1/2010...
opened a new penitentiary, the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution
Riverbend Maximum Security Institution
Riverbend Maximum Security Institution is a prison in Nashville, Tennessee, operated by the Tennessee Department of Correction. The prison opened in 1989 and replaced its 100 year-old neighbor, the Tennessee State Penitentiary. Even today, it is billed as one of the state's most high-tech facilities...
at Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
. The old Tennessee State Penitentiary closed in June 1992. As part of the settlement in a class action suit, Grubbs v. Bradley (1983), the Federal Court issued a permanent injunction prohibiting the Tennessee Department of Correction from ever again housing inmates at the Tennessee State Prison.
External links
- IMDb Entry
- Tennessee State Prison at Abandoned