Back Inside OSR: Learning From Our Past

Former staff travel back inside the famed Ohio State Reformatory and recall their most memorable experiences. Hear how OSR, the unlikeliest of places, became the focus of ODRC to bring true change to the department.

[@neilgibson6056]

My uncle Robert Branch was a guard for over 30 years at OSR. He even stayed in one of the brick buildings on the Eastern side of the facility which were built for staff in those days. In addition, my father spent a 6 month stint inside as an inmate in the early 60's. He often talked about playing a guitar out in the yard to other inmates trying to pass the time. He also stated you had to learn to defend yourself early on. If you didnt, your stay wouldn't be a good one.

[@timkeller3907]

My brother was a inmate in the early 80's.... i went with my mom, to visit him... let me tell you what!.... it scared me straight lol... man was it loud and scary.

[@Loosesapphire5135]

Any1 remember the guy in receiving got his head caught in the doors 1 night after evening chow ? We were always telling him to get his dome piece tf in & quit yapping before he gets caught in the doors, & it finally happened.

[@lumberjack4356]

That happened allthe time someones head arm finger, my cellie ran for red baron and he would tell me all kinds of shit.

[@johnjones9642]

Wow! I was there in 1982 east block 4 north. West block for about a month. West block the cell doors opened like a regular door like you seen in the video. East block the doors closed right to left. Crazy place.

[@becausetheworldisround7714]

I can't even imagine what it would it be like to do time there (or maybe I just don't want to.) I toured it recently and was overwhelmed by the dark and depressing energy of the place. I know there's no such thing as a fun prison, but OSR seems bad even by prison standards.

[@montanaskies20012006]

It was third world!!!

[@lakerfan0852]

Was it as bad as the movie Shawshank depicts?

[@Loosesapphire5135]

​@@lakerfan0852not only was I in Shawshank, but I was sent there in 90, it was worse. I could write 1 straight from hell of a novel, & make a better movie, based off what I experienced & know of OSR.

[@lakerfan0852]

@@Loosesapphire5135 wow crazy

[@cindytanski9079]

My brother did 5 years here and he was out in a building working as a fireman at that time he' was here in the 1980s Bob tanski he said it was bad they didn't care 😢

[@marlonstubbs727]

i done a 2 to 5 year sentence in 1978 and 1979 was a really creepy place to do time. Still remember my number and the cell and block and the job i had

[@ronaldduvall9898]

I Was there in 79 - 80....#111-979.....2NE

[@SneakerQueen-]

Yall was both getting fucked. Cuz yall was soft as hell

[@montanaskies20012006]

We never forget that number it’s like a tattoo on the mind

[@Loosesapphire5135]

A220-774 1990, 1 of the last recieved. That place was hell on earth. Then off to Lancaster, which was the next level to hell known as gladiator school.

[@MrBdblu]

That's Tim Milligan with the dark hair talking about the guys with the grappling hook. He was director of recovery services in my day

[@michaelclanton1152]

Making hot water with a stinger was a blast

[@MrBdblu]

They don't know nothin' about that these days!

[@adammagyar6085]

You’re right, cause now if we get ahold of one we distill our hooch into clear. Clear being liquor that’s 45 to 60 proof.

[@michaelclanton1152]

@@adammagyar6085 I cooked toasted cheese on the toilet using a kipper can and rolled up toilet paper.A pack of smokes got cheese from the kitchen crew.Just like camping,LOL

[@StacyFrancis-y4f]

Stingers hanging from the light, a wire against the bulb treads and one grounded. Plastic quarter jugs stuffed into a sock and boiling

[@butchrishel1505]

79/80.worked at the power house.lived in west block.the things you see.

[@StacyFrancis-y4f]

Done 4 years 7 months there, i was there when unit management was implemented. I worked in the zerox office( most trusted job for an inmate there was) i knew everything that was going on in there, before most staff knew. Worked inside the securities office, with all the women, and only air condition area inside between the blocks

[@johnjones9642]

In the winter sometimes it would get so cold at night we would build fires in the toilet to keep warm

[@montanaskies20012006]

I remember there being ice in the toilet

[@johnjones9642]

@@montanaskies20012006 yes. I remember the ice in toilets

[@Loosesapphire5135]

The wind would come through the broken windows on 4...south was it, in receiving, straight into the cell. Like being outside through the night. Then there were the cockroaches that would flood the walls the minute the lights went out. Fug it was dank !

[@johnjones9642]

@@Loosesapphire5135 yes! I seen a roach so big on 4 east I tried to wash him off the range with a cup of water & I missed & bent over to get a drink! I mean I actually seen him tilt forward to drink.😀

[@Loosesapphire5135]

@@johnjones9642 you remember Blacky ?

[@MrBdblu]

In the West Block from Summer of 88 till it closed down in late 90. I think i left in November. Went over to MANCI

[@Loosesapphire5135]

You were there when I was. Do you remember the joint going on lockdown the 1st week of April, 1990. Population was rioting trying to get into receiving.

[@rickconley9660]

​@@Loosesapphire5135why would population riot to get into receiving ? Sounds like another made-up story ...

[@johnjones9642]

We used to look in front of the commisary at night & watch the rats playing in front of the store. I seen a roach so big that you could see him bend over to get a drink of water off of the range floor. They didn't care about our safety. What ever happened just happened.

[@phillamoore157]

"...didn't care about our safety.." What exactly did you do to wind up in prison, John? I just watched a guy get shoved off a subway platform, for absolutely no reason other than existing. "IF" that guys even winds up in prison, how sorry are we supposed to feel for him. Could it possibly be that your level of entitlement is exactly why you wound up in prison?

[@Loosesapphire5135]

I was there in 90, went through & saw so much I could make a movie about it. I remember 1 night waking up to my celly asking me wtf I was doing, thinking I was getting into his food. Didn't take but a few seconds to realize it was a massive rat stealing a full loaf of bread off the top of his lock box he'd brought back from chow. Jarmel reached over & grabbed the loaf & started a tug of war that rat stood straight up, starting hissing & growling at him. Jamel about shat himself & let go. That rat grabbed that loaf by the plastic & drug it through the hole it came in behind toilet where there was a grate. & GONE. We both were like did that really just happen !?

[@AlexanderLecard9167]

​@@phillamoore157talking out you popper i see you wouldnt have lasted 5 seconds or been someones boy.

[@phillamoore157]

@@AlexanderLecard9167 There are things with more intelligence (not to mention literary skills) floating in third-world cesspools. That had absolutely nothing to do with anything. Go back to burning down police stations, and selling candy out of the back of a van. You're too stupid to have an opinion on anything.

[@zachrowe986]

I been to the new Mansfield 3 times and ross and Lebanon

[@danonchalker2383]

My Grandfather was supposedly one of the only people to escape that place he was on the run for a few years and got apprehended by the police having the switchboard operators listen in on the calls he made to my grandmother

[@MC21221]

If this is true, that’s pretty cool

[@Zqylxr]

My grandpa was in their for 2 years

[@switcheroo1759]

Ur grandpa aids

[@johnsetvin283]

6 north cell 33..1990

[@Loosesapphire5135]

I was there then, receiving.

[@johnnyjclark]

47 1NE (1979)

[@Bluehealer100]

I spent over 25 years in the Ohio prison system and after unit management came in it went to shit!!!!

[@montanaskies20012006]

I probably know you blue I did 16

[@Bluehealer100]

@@montanaskies20012006 I done my time at Lucasville prison.

[@phillamoore157]

So, explain that if you don't mind. Where you a prisoner there, or did you work there, when you say "...it went to shit". I want to know what they means from a prisoner's perspective. And, btw....did they teach you a trade? And, if they did, did you apply that in the "real" world?

[@Potus-he4sl]

They took the bars off on the ranges,

[@AlexanderLecard9167]

What they didn't say. few years later. a unit manager was decapitated in the unit at lima correctional.

[@carmenkoening7728]

forget

[@johnjones9642]

I worked in the quarter master. If your cell is in the right spot you can see a lot. I got out everyday to go to work. Except weekends. 124grand

[@jimgraham4355]

R-108459