The
worst fire in prison history takes place at the Ohio State Penitentiary (Columbus OH). 322
inmates were killed.
The prison was representative of “The Big House” era of
prison building. It had been built to hold 1500 inmates but at the time of the
fire, 4300 were incarcerated there. There is debate on whether the fire was an
accident or a prison escape diversion but regardless, the warden had never put
a fire escape policy in place nor had he ever authorized any fire drills. It is said he was more concerned about
prisoners escaping than about them dying in a fire.
 |
| Bodies of those killed in the fire. |
While the locked up prisoners begged to be
let out of their cells, guards continued to lock up remaining prisoners. Two
prisoners finally got the keys from the guards and began unlocking cells one by
one. There was no automatic lock/unlock
system then. Each cell had to be opened
manually.
This was during
the Depression when there were minimum sentences laws in place and many were
jailed for minor offenses. The fire led
to a repeal of minimum sentences laws that contributed to the overcrowding of
prisons. By 1931 over 2300 prisoners
were paroled from the penitentiary.
(Sources for this story include www.ohiohistorycentral.org and www.lrc.fema.gov
)
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