Charlestown State Prison was a correctional facility in Charlestown,

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

operated by the

Massachusetts Department of Correction The Massachusetts Department of Correction is responsible for operating the prison system of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The Massachusetts Department of Correction is responsible for the custody of about 8,292 prisone ...

. The facility was built at Lynde's Point, now at the intersection of Austin Street and New Rutherford Avenue, and in proximity to the

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tracks that intersected with the

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tracks.

Bunker Hill Community College Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC) is a public community college with multiple campuses in the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1973 in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, BHCC provides higher education and job training servi ...

occupies the site that the prison once occupied.Barbo, Theresa Mitchell. ''The Cape Cod Murder of 1899: Edwin Ray Snow's Punishment and Redemption''.

The History Press The History Press is a British publishing company specialising in the publication of titles devoted to local and specialist history. It claims to be the United Kingdom's largest independent publisher in this field, publishing approximately 300 ...

, 2007
29
Retrieved from ''

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'' on May 23, 2010. , 9781596292277. In 1803 the

Massachusetts General Court The Massachusetts General Court (formally styled the General Court of Massachusetts) is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from the earliest days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, ...

passed an act approving the construction of a prison. The prison opened in 1805. In 1828 the construction of a north wing was underway. The construction of the south wing occurred in 1850. In 1853 the

Legislature of Massachusetts The Massachusetts General Court (formally styled the General Court of Massachusetts) is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from the earliest days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, w ...

voted to build a prison to replace Charlestown.''Around the Block''.

.
Volume 6, Issue 1
January 2010. 3 (3/4). Retrieved on May 23, 2010. The prison's space increased as time passed. By 1867 the state converted a guardroom into hundreds of prison cells. On the morning of April 10, 1873, an Englishman named William Patterson, who was incarcerated for burglary, stabbed a turnkey named John E. Shaw. Shaw's injuries were so severe that he was not expected to live. Gideon Haynes had fourteen years of service as warden of the prison about the time of the Civil War, and later (in the late 1870s) as superintendent of the Charlestown property when the prison in Concord opened. One of his children,

Inez Haynes Irwin Inez Haynes Irwin (March 2, 1873 – September 25, 1970) was an American feminist author, journalist, member of the National Women's Party, and president of the Authors Guild. Many of her works were published under her former name Inez Haynes Gi ...

, became a noted suffragist, feminist, and writer. The Haynes family lived at 85 Chapman Street, a street that no longer exists. The new prison, MCI Concord, opened in May 1878. Many prisoners were transferred to the new prison.

Governor of Massachusetts The governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the chief executive officer of the government of Massachusetts. The governor is the head of the state cabinet and the commander-in-chief of the commonwealth's military forces. Massachuset ...

George D. Robinson signed a bill ordering prisoners to be moved back to Charlestown on May 21, 1884. In 1886 the west wing, with nearly 60 cells, was built in Charlestown. In 1890 a prisoner named Moore escaped. During the same year "Chicken" Walsh, another prisoner, made an unsuccessful attempt to escape. At a later point a prison riot occurred. By 1903, of the prisoners at Charlestown, 75 were in

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes fo ...

, 54 had varying terms, and 863 were held under minimum and maximum sentence forms. In 1920 Charlestown began manufacturing and issuing license plates. The prison closed in November 1955, and prisoners were moved to other facilities.

Notable prisoners

* James Allen *

Warry Charles Warry S. Charles (1857 1915) was a Chinese American businessman and Hip Sing Association leader who was tried and convicted for organizing a hit during the Tong Wars in Boston's Chinatown. Biography Charles was born in 1857 in China. He moved ...

John Patrick Connolly John Patrick Connolly (June 28, 1894 – October 30, 1971) was an American politician who served as clerk of the Suffolk Superior Court of Civil Business from 1936 to 1939. He was convicted of bribery in 1941 for receiving kickbacks from court ...

Victor Folke Nelson Victor Folke Nelson (June 5, 1898 – December 9, 1939) was a Swedish-American writer,"Prison Ethics." ''The Tennessean''. March 6, 1933."Bound to be Read." ''The Evening Sentinel''. Carlisle, Pa. March 16, 1933."The Articulate Convict Studies Pri ...

Merrill, Anthony. "The Man Who Broke Charlestown". ''Boston Sunday Advertiser Green Magazine''. December 17, 1939. "Movie Made Escaped Convict Go Back to Charleston Prison". ''The Boston Sunday Post''. December 17, 1939. *

Charles Ponzi Charles Ponzi (, ; born Carlo Pietro Giovanni Guglielmo Tebaldo Ponzi; March 3, 1882 – January 15, 1949) was an Italian swindler and con artist who operated in the U.S. and Canada. His aliases included ''Charles Ponci'', ''Carlo'', and ''Cha ...

* Jesse Pomeroy *

Malcolm X Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement. A spokesman for the Nation of I ...

Sacco and Vanzetti Nicola Sacco (; April 22, 1891 – August 23, 1927) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (; June 11, 1888 – August 23, 1927) were Italian immigrant anarchists who were controversially accused of murdering Alessandro Berardelli and Frederick Parmenter, ...

* Norman H. White

References

External links

''Prison Days and Nights''
memoir by 1920s Charlestown prisoner

* {{State prisons in Massachusetts 1805 establishments in Massachusetts 1955 disestablishments in Massachusetts Charlestown, Boston Prisons in Massachusetts

Notable prisoners

See also

References

External links