View source for Indiana State Prison

{{Short description|Prison}}
{{use mdy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox Prison
| prison_name    = Indiana State Prison
| image          = 
| location       = [[Michigan City, Indiana]]
| coordinates    = 
| status         = open
| classification = mixed
| capacity       = ~4000
| opened         = {{start date and age|1860}}
| closed         = 
| managed_by     = [[Indiana Department of Correction]] 
| director       = 
}}

'''The Indiana State Prison''' is a [[Incarceration in the United States#Security levels|maximum security]] [[Indiana Department of Correction]] prison for adult males; however, minimum security housing also exists on the confines.<ref name="Indiana State Prison">{{Cite web |url=http://www.in.gov/indcorrection/facility/spu/general.htm |title=Indiana State Prison<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=2006-12-13 |archive-date=2006-12-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061214124311/http://www.in.gov/indcorrection/facility/spu/general.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> It is located in [[Michigan City, Indiana]], about {{convert|50|mi|km}} east of [[Chicago]].<ref>[http://www.mapquest.com MapQuest: Maps, Directions, Gas Prices & Business Directory<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The average daily inmate population in November 2006 was 2,200,<ref name="prison history">"Indiana State Prison History." Available on request from Indiana State Prison, Michigan City, Indiana.</ref> 2,165 in 2011.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.inmatecountyjail.com/item/indiana-state-prison |title=Indiana State Prison |access-date=2013-08-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928001003/http://www.inmatecountyjail.com/item/indiana-state-prison/ |archive-date=2013-09-28 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Indiana State Prison was established in 1860.<ref name="Indiana State Prison"/> It was the second state prison in Indiana.<ref>[http://www.statelib.lib.in.us/www/ihb/press/instateprisonpr.html IHB: 404<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070103185531/http://www.statelib.lib.in.us/www/ihb/press/instateprisonpr.html |date=2007-01-03 }}</ref> One of the most famous prisoners to be in the Michigan City prison was bank robber [[John Dillinger]], who was released on parole in 1933.<ref>[http://www.hollywoodusa.co.uk/GravesOutofLA/dillenger.htm John Dillinger's grave<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

The prison houses all the male [[death row]] inmates in the state. It appeared in the [[ITV Network|ITV]] documentary ''Inside Death Row'' with [[Trevor McDonald]].

Indiana plans to close the prison in Michigan City after a new prison opens in Westville.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://indianacapitalchronicle.com/2023/08/08/doc-plans-to-close-indiana-state-prison-as-part-of-new-westville-project-which-now-tops-1-2b/ |title=DOC plans to close Indiana State Prison as part of new Westville project |date=8 August 2023 |publisher=Indiana Capital Chronicle |access-date=September 17, 2023 }}</ref>

==History==
[[File:Indiana State Prison layout, c 1865.jpg|alt=A line drawing from a bird's eye view|thumb|Layout of the original prison design, {{c.}} 1865]]
[[File:Indiana State Prison 1871.jpg|thumb|Illustration of Indiana State Prison, 1871]]

The history of the Indiana State Prison dates back to 1859 when the [[Indiana General Assembly|state legislature]] granted $50,000 for a new state prison.<ref name="prison history" /> It was named "State Prison West"; as opposed to "State Prison East" which was the first state prison located in [[Jeffersonville, Indiana]] (and later moved to nearby [[Clarksville, Indiana|Clarksville]]).<ref>Bongen, Paula. "Indiana State Prison Timeline." Indianapolis, Indiana Historical Society.</ref> The prison space at Jeffersonville became too scarce, calling for a new prison to be built in Michigan City.<ref>Wilson, Helen. ''The Treatment of the misdemeanant in Indiana, 1816-1936''. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1938.</ref> Later, State Prison South became the Indiana Reformatory and State Prison North became known as Indiana State Prison.<ref name="prison history" />

In 1860, {{convert|100|acre|km2}} in Michigan City were purchased for $4,500. The first warden, Charles Seely, was the superintendent in charge of construction and was the general [[handyman]].<ref name="prison history" /> The first building was the Temporary Prison Building which was {{convert|200|ft|m}} long and made of red brick. A year after Michigan City Prison opened, prison labor outside of the institution started; inmates were employed at a cooperage firm making barrels, receiving 38 cents a day.<ref name="prison history" /> The first prison school was started in 1861 where prisoners would learn from the chaplain five days a week. Later the prison started charging 25 cents per visitor to boost prison revenue.<ref name="prison history" />

At the turn of the century, the prison was increased to twice its size. By 1930 prisoners were placed in two cell houses that contained 230 and 340 cells respectively, and three dormitories, which were considered among the best in the country.<ref name=handbook>Garrett, Paul W., and Austin H. MacCormick. ''Handbook of American Prisons''. New York: National Society of Penal Information, 1929.</ref> During that same time period, {{convert|900|acre|km2}} of farmland were in use by the prison on land leased by the state.<ref name=handbook /> A hospital was built in 1943 that was almost {{convert|1000|sqft|m2}}. In the late 1950s, arguably one of the finest state recreational facilities was opened at the prison.<ref name="prison history" />

From 1960 to 1990, only minor renovations were implemented at the State Prison. In 1992, a new type of food door with locking capability for each cell was designed.<ref name="prison history" /> A year later, the first hot meal was served in the dining room, and in that same year, the inmates received three meals a day for the first time.<ref name="prison history" /> Soon thereafter, a new riot system was put into effect in Dormitories E and F.<ref name="prison history" />

Michigan City is known for having housed two famous inmates during its tenure. [[John Dillinger]] spent time in Michigan City from 1929 until he was paroled in 1933. A few months after Dillinger made parole, on September 26, ten inmates, including [[Harry Pierpont]], [[Charles Makley]], [[Russell Clark (criminal)|Russell Lee Clarke]] and Ed Shouse, escaped thanks to the help of three pistols Dillinger had smuggled into the prison.<ref name="prison history" />

The other especially famous inmate was [[D.C. Stephenson]]. In 1922 Stephenson became one of the most powerful Grand Dragons of the [[Ku Klux Klan]]. In 1925 he raped a woman named Madge Oberholtzer. She died a month later from either poison or bite marks from being raped. That same year he was convicted of second degree murder and was sent to the Indiana State Prison for 31 years.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20080411163028/http://www.centerforhistory.org/indiana_history_main7.html Indiana History, Chapter Seven<!-- Bot generated title -->]}}</ref>

Michigan City had a cemetery for prisoners when the prison first opened in 1860; however, that cemetery no longer exists. The new prison cemetery in Michigan City has around 350 prisoners buried on the premises.<ref name="Indiana State Prison Cemetery">[http://www.rootsweb.com/~inlpccem/cemeteries/Indiana_Prison/Indiana_State_Prison.htm Indiana State Prison Cemetery<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Sam Thomas was the first offender buried in the new cemetery on June 10, 1927.<ref name="Indiana State Prison Cemetery"/>

Before 1913 all executions in Indiana were done by [[hanging]]. On February 20, 1914, the first electrocution occurred. From 1913 to 1994 executions were performed via [[electric chair]]. [[Lethal injection]] has been used in Indiana from 1995 up to the present.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://justice.uaa.alaska.edu/death/deathrow.html |title=Death Row<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=2006-12-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061214132201/http://justice.uaa.alaska.edu/death/deathrow.html |archive-date=2006-12-14 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Currently all state executions must be carried out in the Indiana State Prison. The prison also has or had a cat adoption program. This program has been exceptionally successful at finding new homes for felines previously owned by prison inmates.

==Notable inmates==
===Current===
* [[William Clyde Gibson]] – Serial killer convicted of three murders. On death row.

===Former===
* [[Howard Allen]] – Serial killer convicted of three murders. Formerly on death row; sentence commuted. Died of natural causes in 2020.
* [[John Dillinger]] – Bank robber and gangster. Incarcerated at the Indiana Reformatory and Indiana State Prison between 1924 and 1933.
* [[Orville Lynn Majors]] – Serial killer and former nurse. Convicted of the murders of 6 patients. Died of heart failure in 2017.
* [[D.C. Stephenson]] – Convicted rapist and murderer. [[Ku Klux Klan titles and vocabulary|Grand Dragon]] of the [[Indiana Klan]]

===Executed===
* [[Joseph Corcoran]] – Convicted killer found guilty of murdering his brother, his sister's fiancé and two friends in 1997. Executed via lethal injection on December 18, 2024.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 17, 2024 |title=Indiana carries out first execution in 15 years, putting inmate to death for quadruple murder despite his schizophrenia|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2024/12/17/us/joseph-corcoran-indiana-death-row-execution/index.html |work=[[CNN]] }}</ref>
* [[Steven Judy]] – Executed on March 9, 1981, via electric chair. The first person executed in Indiana since the reinstatement of the death penalty.
* [[Alan Matheney]] – Found guilty of the murder of his wife Lisa Bianco. Executed on September 28, 2005, via lethal injection.
* [[Gregory Duane Resnover]] – One of two men convicted of the 1980 [[murder of Jack Ohrberg|murder of Indianapolis police officer Jack Ohrberg]]. Executed via the electric chair on December 8, 1994. Last person executed by electrocution in Indiana.
* [[Tommie Joe Smith]] – One of two men convicted of the 1980 [[murder of Jack Ohrberg|murder of Indianapolis police officer Jack Ohrberg]]. Executed via lethal injection on July 18, 1996. First person executed by lethal injection in Indiana.
* [[William Vandiver]] — found guilty of killing his father-in-law. Executed via the electric chair on October 16, 1985.
* [[Eric Wrinkles|Matthew Eric Wrinkles]] – Executed on December 11, 2009, via lethal injection.
* [[Benjamin Ritchie]]  – Convicted of murdering a police officer, executed on May 20, 2025.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
*{{Cite book
| publisher = O.A. Browning & Company
| title = An Illustrated History and Description of State Prison Life by One who Has Been There
| access-date = 2014-04-20
| date = 1871
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=RwTZAAAAMAAJ
}}

''A History of the Indiana State Prison:'' 1860-1910, by William G. Hinkle, Mellen Press, 2020

==External links==
{{Portal|Indiana}}
{{commons cat}}
*[http://www.in.gov/idoc/2413.htm Profile of Indiana State Prison] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100117132239/http://www.in.gov/idoc/2413.htm |date=2010-01-17 }} at Indiana's official website

{{Coord|41|42|11|N|86|55|2|W|type:landmark|display=title}}

{{State prisons in Indiana}}
{{Execution sites in the United States}}
{{Authority control}}
<!--Designated execution site-->

[[Category:Michigan City, Indiana]]
[[Category:Prisons in Indiana]]
[[Category:Capital punishment in Indiana]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in LaPorte County, Indiana]]
[[Category:Execution sites in the United States]]
[[Category:1860 establishments in Indiana]]