Old Jackson Prison

[MEB]

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This is a section of the wall of the original Jackson Prison of Michigan. It dates from 1842. In 1927 this structure was abandoned to a new facility that quickly became the largest walled prison in the world.

 

M8 and 28 Elmarit ASPH processed in Photoshop CS4 and NIK Silver Efex Pro.

 

Thanks for looking,

Mark B (East Lansing, Michigan)

 

[cstevens]

Lovely shot, did you get a chance to explore more?

 

in the UK there is no abandoned prisions, we just keep filling them.

 

Many of ours are built in the 1800's and still remain but have 10 times more people caged than it wad intended

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[stuny]

Mark -

 

Beautiful for subject (architecturally, not in purpose), composition, detail, ligth, contrast and tonal quality.

[MEB]

CStevens and Stuart,

 

Thank you for the kind comments.

 

The wall is only on three sides and describes an area of about 6 acres. The grass and growth is about chest high and all sorts of things can surprise you there (such as a ground hog that allowed me to walk within 1 meter of it before running away and a deer that was sleeping or hiding and jumped up when I walked near). There are no buildings left in the interior of the wall so it is hard to imagine what the cells were like. Given its age and the ominous tone of the existing wall, the living conditions could not have been very civil. Michigan was the first jurisdiction in the English speaking world to prohibit the death penalty. Therefore, there were many prisoners there who would have, in other jurisdictions, been executed. It must have been a very tough crowd!

 

Mark