Simplify: Reformatory

Let me set the scene:

Wednesday, August 15th otherwise known as my birthday.

7am - The hubby was up at normal work day time, got dressed, kissed me on the forehead as I groggily grunted an 'I love you'.

7:31am - I shot up in bed as the smell of food wafted into the bedroom. I will give props to my 10 year old who can and is allowed to cook her own food, but while I'm still asleep in bed? Not permitted.

I stumbled out of bed and into the kitchen to find... my hubby not in work clothes... still at home... making breakfast..... What? What is happening? What day is this? Am I confused? Is he confused?

As he is his own boss these days, my wonderful husband took the day off to surprise me with a trip to the Ohio State (Mansfield) Reformatory!

To give you a little more information:

To construct the Ohio State Reformatory in the 1880's it cost $1.2-$1.6 MILLION!! In today's money that is $42 MILLION! That was never heard of back then let alone the fact that they don't build 'em like this today either.

The above picture is only the administration headquarters! Below is the East cell block and there is a matching West cell block on the other side. What I love is that - forget age, forget architecture - the outside of this building has a story to tell. In order for the state to build the Reformatory in 1886 they used Whiskey Tax money. When this tax was appealed (?) outlawed(?) construction halted for a bit until new funds could be found. If you look at the blocks in the wall, about 1/3 the way up the windows you will see a change in the style and size of the blocks being used. This is called the Whiskey Line.

The Reformatory closed its doors as a jail in 1990. It was considered an abandoned building and therefore anyone could go in and do whatever they wanted to it. 4 major Hollywood motion pictures were filmed here - Air Force One, Shawshank Redemption, Tango and Cash, and Harry and Walter Go To New York. During filming, changes, modifications, and damage were done to the building and is now part of the tour. For example:

Towards the end of Air Force One, a Russian drug lord was imprisoned in "Russia" and walks the jail cell halls and out through the prison gate below. The gate was built for the movie but since it was very structurally sound and looked like it was naturally a part of the building, they just left it.

The most notorious of the 4 movies (The Shawshank Redemption) has also been the biggest draw in tours to the Reformatory.

Movie props such as the safe was removed after filming but then returned to the Reformatory since the blockbuster movie is now a part of its history.

Part of cinematic magic is to make things look bigger than they actually are. For example: The board room at the beginning of the movie is actually a very small room.

In order to get wide screen shots for this scene, cameras were mounted to the ceiling and then "patched" up when they were done.

Actors are paid big bucks to do a lot of crazy things, but crawling through sewer lines was a no go for Tim Robbins. Sitting in the original cafeteria are the "tunnels" Tim Robbins crawled through.

Much of the other damage throughout the building is frustrating American ethics. The Reformatory closed because cost of maintaining was far too expensive to keep up with as a jail. So inmates were relocated, water and heat was shut off.... and windows were busted out to allow nature to take it course.

There is a disclaimer that pregnant women and young children are advised to not take these tours as this building is painted with lead based paint.

Renovations are being done on the building but, obviously, are going to take a while and so, so much money. Rooms that were used in the Shawshank Redemption are being renovated first with funds from tours and donations. Although it is in the plans to renovate the entire building, it is nothing we will see in our lifetime. However.... it is still astonishing to see.

The Chapel

As this building was designed to be a reformatory, attending church and having religion was the number 1 priority. They would even have different denominational masses to encompass everyone.

Above you can see a diagonal line where the balcony used to be and the doors of the elevator that took you up there. Below are new, maybe old, bird droppings from windows being broken out before leaving the building. In fact, there are still many, many windows broken out today.

Directly connected to the Chapel is the East cell block. One step through the doorway takes your breath away. You are at the very top of the largest free standing steel cell block in the world!

The cells were first designed to hold one inmate. Then that became two inmates. Until overpopulation happened and some cells held three inmates.

Car Wash

Below is the shower room known to the inmates as the "car wash". You entered the room single file with a bar of soap, walked to one end of the room lathering up, and walked back to the door while rinsing off. Showers took approximately 30 seconds. If you were still soapy, you had the small sink in your cell to finish the job.

Solitary Confinement

Here is an interesting fact: Solitary Confinement was (or maybe still is) considered "dead time" as in it does not count toward your jail sentence. So if you happen to have to serve 15 months in jail and you spend your first 3 months in solitary confinement, whelp, you still have 15 months to go!

Solid steel doors with no windows so you would have no idea how much time is passing.

When we were done with the 'History meets Hollywood' tour, we went right back to the beginning and explored it all over again.

Family quarters bathroom

During the 5 years it sat abandoned, so much destruction was done inside. From scrappers taking anything they could to vandals working on their spray painting skills.

The Reformatory is sad to be haunted by many ghosts. We didn't find any today but I can't wait to go back for the 'Beyond the Bars' tour where they take you down in the basement to the "hole" and up into the attic.

Crazy amounts of people have visited the Reformatory from France and neighboring countries! Apparently this is one major destination point for foreigners.

After three hours of walking and touring we were a tad bit hungry. We asked for suggestions by a OSR worker and made our way downtown but still couldn't make a decision. A hippie college kid just happened to be leaving a coffee shop by us when Rachael Ray popped into my head. If you wanna know where to eat, ask the locals. So I did and we happened to end up at a place I had recently read about.