The Ohio State Penitentiary Fire, Columbus Ohio 1930
The Ohio State Penitentiary was nearly 100 years old in 1930, a century in which it had developed a reputation as one of the worst prisons in the nation as far as living conditions were concerned. It had been built to house 1500 prisoners but nearly always housed far more than that, and in April 1930 there were 4,300 prisoners within its cells. Expansion of the facility was underway that spring, and scaffolding was in place along one side of the building, creating increased security concerns for the guards as the scaffolding could be used to facilitate an escape.
In the evening of April 21 a fire began on a section of the scaffolding. Smoke soon began to build up in the nearby cells, which housed about 800 prisoners. The prisoners began importuning the guards to unlock their cells, which soon increased to screams as it became evident that the fire had spread to the roof of the cell block. The guards responded by ignoring the pleas to unlock cells and continued to lock other prisoners in their cells for the night. This led to two prisoners overpowering a guard, taking his keys, and letting out several other prisoners before the roof collapsed into the top floor.
The collapse of the roof and the guards’ dedication to keeping the prisoners under lock and key created a panic which led to a full-fledged riot, played out against the backdrop of fire. Armed guards were stationed around the prison walls and the call went out for National Guard troops. Firemen arriving to fight the fire found themselves under attack from inmates, who threw rocks, bricks, and whatever else came to hand at the firefighters. Regular Army troops rushed in from Fort Hayes to protect the firemen, they being closer than the National Guard units still mustering.
When National Guard troops did arrive they joined the Army troops and surrounded the entire prison, backed with machine guns in the towers, to prevent any inmates from attempting to escape. The response of the military was so quickly implemented that the prison was surrounded less than an hour after the outbreak of the fire. By the time the fire was out 322 inmates were dead, another 130 injured; it was the worst prison fire in American history.
The cause of the fire was disputed, prison officials believed it to have been set by escaping prisoners as a diversion, but no prisoners escaped that night. Critics believed the fire to have been due to poor supervision of the construction workers, which left a pile of oily rags near a heat source allowing the fire to start. Its aftermath led to Ohio making changes to its minimum sentencing laws and establishing its first parole system, both steps designed to try to ease prison overcrowding.