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Ohio State Reformatory (Shawshank Prison)

Mansfield · Richland County

Movie set and prison

Visiting information you can trust

Check before driving — this site is seasonal, approximate, privately run, or otherwise uncertain. Confirm hours and access with the official source above.

Content last reviewed: September 2026 — this is when Field Notes Ohio's content was last checked, not a live status.
Primary official source: Official page
Location confidence: Verified entrance or visitor center
Published coordinates
Seasonal access: April 1 to October 31: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, with 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday from June to early September. November 1 to March 31: Thursday to Monday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Closed Tuesday and Wednesday in winter.
Check current conditions: Official conditions or closures
Reservations or tickets: Tickets or admission info

Prices, hours, closures, campsite availability and trail conditions shown elsewhere on this page are not live — always confirm with the official source before you go.

The castle-like prison where The Shawshank Redemption was filmed, now a museum and paranormal tour site.

Built: The cornerstone was laid on November 4, 1886, and the first 150 prisoners arrived in September 1896; work continued until 1910
Architect: Levi T. Scofield of Cleveland, in Victorian Gothic, Richardsonian Romanesque and Queen Anne styles
Closed: December 31, 1990, after inmates sued over conditions; more than 155,000 men had been held there
Film: The Shawshank Redemption was filmed here in 1993
Listed: National Register of Historic Places, 1983
Now: A museum, event and paranormal tour site run by the Ohio State Reformatory Preservation Society

The story

Mansfield was picked as the site of a new prison in the 1880s, and the cornerstone was laid on November 4, 1886. The legislature nearly turned it into an asylum, doubting that reforming young men was possible, before Mansfield's citizens paid to send the whole legislature to see a successful reformatory in New York. The first 150 young offenders arrived in 1896. It was designed to reform first-time offenders, with the architecture itself meant to inspire that change, but from the 1960s the state turned it into a maximum-security prison, which it was never meant to be.

By the 1980s the conditions were bad enough that inmates sued the state, and a federal court ordered it closed. The last prisoners moved to the new Mansfield Correctional Institution next door on December 31, 1990, after more than 155,000 men had passed through. It was slated for demolition until location scouts found it for The Shawshank Redemption, which was filmed here in the summer of 1993. The Preservation Society, formed in 1995, now runs tours, including ones that cover ghost stories, and the reformatory's electric chair, Old Sparky, is on display.

Also see the Shawshank Trail sites around Richland County.

Visiting

Status

Open; hours vary by season

Hours

April 1 to October 31: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, with 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday from June to early September. November 1 to March 31: Thursday to Monday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Closed Tuesday and Wednesday in winter.

Cost

An older listing gives $15 for adults; confirm current prices.

Phone

419-522-2644

Please note

Guided and self-guided tours are offered; ask about the Shawshank driving trail.

Address

100 Reformatory Rd, Mansfield, OH 44905

More information →Directions Show on the map

Hours, prices and even the attractions themselves can change. Confirm before a long drive.