West Virginia State Penitentiary Photography Tour

I signed up for a photo tour at the West Virginia Penitentiary in Moundsville. You pay the fee and they open the doors for you to roam and take photos (you're on your own). What a great experience. #4 and #8 are processed using those Photomorphis Texture Bites in On1. There are a few more on my Flickr. Hope you like 'em!

1) Third Level, General

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Nice photos. The place looks both creepy & scary. But oh the stories it could tell.
Any idea when this place shut down?

This looks very cool..... fun shoot. Thanks for sharing

Perfectly Frank wrote in post #18863980
Nice photos. The place looks both creepy & scary. But oh the stories it could tell.
Any idea when this place shut down?

1995. Interestingly enough, the Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, also in WV, was shutdown in 1994. Two major, historic institutions were shuttered at the same time. Not sure if there was a common cause.

Croasdail wrote in post #18864208
This looks very cool..... fun shoot. Thanks for sharing

Thanks. I'm working on a plan to visit the Mansfield Reformatory later this summer. That prison was shut down in 1990, and was the source for the Shawshank Redemption.

These are incredible.

I love this look. Great series!

KCmike wrote in post #18866232
These are incredible.

Thank you, sir!

were you the only one there or were there other photographers? its good that everyone seems to have stayed out of everyones way if there were others there.

is there a set schedule of days/times i.e. Mon, Tues, Thurs from such and such time til whatever? or is it show up, pay up, go in, regardless of day/time (standard business hours im sure)...

i too would like to go through Mansfield. im only about 5 hours north of there for all intents and purposes. could be something my wife would be interested in too. art museums are about the only type attraction we actully both really like visiting it seems...

Ltdave wrote in post #18869111
were you the only one there or were there other photographers? its good that everyone seems to have stayed out of everyones way if there were others there.

is there a set schedule of days/times i.e. Mon, Tues, Thurs from such and such time til whatever? or is it show up, pay up, go in, regardless of day/time (standard business hours im sure)...

i too would like to go through Mansfield. im only about 5 hours north of there for all intents and purposes. could be something my wife would be interested in too. art museums are about the only type attraction we actully both really like visiting it seems...

The West Virginia Penitentiary offers dedicated Photography Tours. The tour I took was basically pay the fee, show up, and go shoot. There are set times, but you need to sign up ahead of time. It is entirely self guided, which means that you're completely on your own the whole 4 hours. We didn't even all start at the same time. Maps were optional. Bring a flashlight. You do run into other photog's, but for the most part the jail is EMPTY.

It's a niche thing, and was on a Monday at 10 AM (I took a day of vacation), and only about 6-8 folks were there. There was a 30-ish dude shooting medium format film, a goth girl, a youngish girl, a couple from New York and me. The medium format film dude was quite arrogant, the couple from NY was there for maybe 25% of the time (if that), the youngish girl was like Ally Sheedy from the Breakfast Club, and the goth girl was the only that would even talk to me. I think they see me with the X100 and my Gorilla tripod and figure 'this jackass doesn't belong here', but what-eva'. I got the same reaction at the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum when I showed up chomping a cucumber. But, yeah, maybe I am that jackass.

Overall, the jail crowd was young-ish. The crew for the Trans-Allegheny was all retirees and then me. It's a similar setup there, except a docent takes you from building to building in 1-hour blocks. One of the ladies had knee pads, which would have been nice considering the debris on the floor. Lighting is so, so challenging in both locations.

Anyway, worth the time and money. To me, the jail was interesting; The asylum was tragic & sad.
https://photography-on-the.net …showthread.php?​p=18699465

All the best!