West Virginia Penitentiary

West Virginia Penitentiary, Moundsville - darkometer rating : 7 - An infamous former prison in the USA . Once the "most dangerous felons" were incarcerated here. It was West Virginia's premier high security penitentiary and has seen plenty of internal violence, riots and escapes … and also executions. It was mainly due to the appalling and cruel conditions that it was closed in 1995. It has since been turned into a tourist attraction. > More background info > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations > Photos More background info: The Penitentiary was established from 1866 – as only the second public building in the state of West Virginia. It was even built by the early prisoners themselves ("hard labour" – indeed!), which took 10 years. The prison was initially intended as a "penitentiary", i.e. a place to generate penitence in the prisoners. The system adopted here was the "Auburn system", where prisoners would be locked in solitary confinement only at night, but were working together during the day – as opposed to the "Pennsylvania system", where prisoners were kept in silent isolation almost all the time (cf. Eastern State Penitentiary ). However, even this idea of semi-solitary doing time was soon abandoned as more and more prisoners arrived, leading to increasingly overcrowded conditions. Originally built to house up to ca. 700 inmates, the penitentiary at times had a prison population exceeding 2700! The tiny cells, measuring only 5 by 7 foot (1.5 by 2 metres) and only 7 feet high, once intended as solitary confinement spaces, then each housed three inmates, two in bunk beds, while one had to sleep on a mattress on the floor. West Virginia Penitentiary also gained notoriety as one of the most violent correctional facilities in the USA .