West Virginia

Mount Olive, WV

Name: Mount Olive Correctional Complex

Population:1,030 (men)

Founded: 1995

Who Owns It and General Facts:

• West Virginia State

• It was built as a replacement for the Civil War-era West Virginia Penitentiary at Moundsville. (WV Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation)

Land History:

• The rupture that fragmented the United States during the Civil War had an even more substantial effect on the state of Virginia. From the state’s beginning, the plantation’s that enslaved people in the eastern part of Virginia led the state’s economy and politics, leaving the self-sufficient farmers who lived in the rugged western counties, where slavery was less frequent, feeling mistreated. Virginia hopped on board with the Confederacy in April 1861, but the part of the state's west remained loyal to the Union. They processed a separation which is how West Virginia was born. (Willis, Matthew)

• In the book Working-class radicals: the Socialist Party in West Virginia, 1898-1920, Frederick A. Barkey shows the world organizers and radical politics in West Virginia post Civil War. In 1914, the West Virginia socialists had a reputable press presence and many members. Socialists held significant offices in the Huntington Trades Assembly from 1912 to 1915. They represented that body at West Virginia and the American Federation of Labor conventions. Frederick also reports on how the Socialists had helped West Virginia workers gain financial self-control by launching cooperatives. (Barkey) These stores, organized by party members, were located over a wide-ranging area in Wheeling, Huntington, Hilltop, Star City, Chelyan, Powellton, and Miami. Moreover, the party had elected its members to a projected fifty public offices, including five complete city governments and mayors in three others.

• What ended up squashing the Mountain State Socialists was passing a primary election law by the 1915 State Legislature. As the Argus Star stated, it “knocks the Socialist organization into a cocked hat.” Under this legislature, a party could not be considered “established” unless it had gotten 5 percent of the vote in each congressional district in the last biennial election. This figure just barely excluded the socialist party and dismantled years of progress. (Barkey, Frederick A., 124)

Unusual Facts:

• The West Virginia Public Service Commission launched a probe of problems that left the state's maximum-security prison without water for sanitary or firefighting purposes several times. (WCHS FOX News)

• People sit at the ridgetop overlook at the prison and take in the sites as if it’s a trail or designated overlook of the mountains. (AP)

Moundsville, WV

Name: West Virginia State Penitentiary

Population: Built for 650 inmates but reached 2,000 at times (men and women)

Founded: 1876 to 1995

Who Owns It and General Facts:

• It is owned and run by Moundsville Economic Development Council

• In the 1960s, the prison was so jam-packed that as many as three prisoners would be put in a five-by-seven-foot cell. The building, which had an official capacity of about 650, reached around 2,000 at its highest. (Stowers)

• As a result of a 1981 petition filed by inmate Robert Crain, the West Virginia Supreme Court ruled in 1986 that conditions at the West Virginia Penitentiary were deplorable and resulted in cruel and unusual punishment. After rejecting compliance plans by the Department of Corrections, the court concluded the only alternative was to close the facility altogether. (Stowers)

Land History:

• Humans had lived in Appalachia for over ten thousand years, forming some of the oldest settlements on the continent after trekking from Asia. Mound builder tribes occupied the land in Marshall County that the WV State penitentiary now sits on. The Grave Creek Indian Mound, located in the center of Moundsville, is one of West Virginia's most famous historical landmarks. More than 2,000 years old, it stands 69 feet high and 295 feet diameter. The state acquired it in 1917. (County Commissioners Association of West Virginia)

• According to missionary reports, several thousand Hurons occupied present-day West Virginia during the late 1500s and early 1600s. The powerful Iroquois Confederacy (consisting of the Mohawk, Onondaga, Cayuga, Oneida, and Seneca tribes, joined later by the Tuscaroras tribe) drove then from the state during the 1600s. The Iroquois Confederacy was headquartered in New York and was not interested in occupying present-day West Virginia. Instead, they used it as a hunting ground during the spring and summer months. (County Commissioners Association of West Virginia)

• West Virginia became an independent state from Virginia in 1863, leaving it with very few systems or institutions. Prisoners were held in county jails. To lessen crowding, Governor Boreman in 1864 ordered imprisoned felons from throughout the state to be incarcerated in the Ohio County Jail and asked the legislature for funds to construct a state prison. The legislature appropriated $50,000 in 1866, and five acres (later expanded to ten) were acquired in Moundsville for construction. The prison opened with 840 cells for men and 32 for women. Legend has it that Moundsville was given a choice between the penitentiary and the new state university and chose the prison as the more promising institution. (West Virginia Encyclopedia)

Unusual Facts:

• The Moundsville Prison offers something called “Princess Tea” and its other tourist attractions. While disgraceful nonetheless, the attractions like a ghost tour make more sense. Why children are hanging out in a supposedly haunted prison where many prisoners died and were tortured dressed as Disney characters is not clear.

The website reads, “We bring all of your favorite Princesses to the Moundsville Center for a magical afternoon of fun!

Come dressed in your Sunday best or as your favorite princess! Your little princess will meet each of our Princesses and receive a special trinket.

Snacks and drinks provided.

Bring your own camera! You’ll want to capture ALL of the smiles!”

• Ghost Adventures and Ghost Asylum on the Travel Chanell investigated the Moundsville State Penitentiary in hopes of contacting spirits.

• Charles Manson once petitioned to be relocated to Moundsville. His hand-written letter remains on display in the execution area. (Moundsville:PBS Film & Magazine)