I used to visit Lorton on my motorcycle.
The photographs herein were taken in Lorton Prison in the mid-1970s. Neither correctional officer nor inmate are identified by name. However, wherever possible, administrators are identified as the public servants they were at the time.
Most of the pictures were taken in the Lorton Reformatory, the prison that housed medium and maximum security prisoners from the District of Columbia. The Lorton Complex also included the Youth Facility and Minimum Security, known as Occoquan. Most of the pictures were taken by Nancy Shia, a freelance photographer and law student who had access to photograph in the prison. She was assisted by an inmate photographer, who took the pictures where she could not go.
There was a certain camaraderie that grew up around the community of DC people who visited Lorton Prison. It was a 30-45 minute ride up I-95 from the District of Columbia to Lorton Prison. When you got there, you had to go through a thorough security check. There was support from the people in the visiting lines to help ease the visitors' angst. Lorton Prison often hosted many events that included outside visitors. There were Family Days and Family Nights, and events held in the chapel and on the prison fields. It was a time when the prison administration was granting furloughs to certain inmates to allow them to go out of the prison for a time that occasionally would include overnight stays. The historic Lorton photographs all come from the 1970s, but the stories will be from all who choose to share their Lorton Stories.
Lorton Prison finally closed in 2001. It has since become known as the Workhouse Museum and Workhouse Arts Center.
The images posted are meant to jar your memories of Lorton Prison. If you would like to share your memories of Lorton, and get your story included, please contact Nancy Shia, Director of the Lorton Prison Stories Project, at nancyshia@yahoo.com, or 202-234-0383.
This project is supported by a grant from the DC Humanities Council.
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