West Virginia Penitentiary Moundsville

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• published: 26 Apr 2015
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The West Virginia Penitentiary (WV-Pen) is not on an island but it might as well be. It definitely is in another world. I know it has been featured in some major movies. Anyone who can identify any of the buildings, rooms, cells, etc. in the video please feel free to comment. Normally I work to keep my videos under 10 minutes. But this place has an extensive history and demands more time. This video represents only small portion of the footage that I collected. At Alcatraz the cells were bigger, the food was better, and no one was ever executed. Alcatraz was closed mainly due to rising costs. West Virginia Penitentiary was closed due to inhumane conditions which included torture of some prisoners. The tour guide informed me that one of the most time-consuming tasks in preparing meals for the prisoners was clearing out the cockroaches. At WV-Pen the 5x7 cells often housed more than one inmate. Some the areas you will see in the video include: ...The North Yard – The most violent prisoners were locked up in maximum security adjacent to the North Yard where you can see razor wire around the recreation area. The so-called death house was in this area but was torn down. Still, hangings continued and it is believed these hangings were carried out in the North Yard Wagon Gate which you will see in the video. ...The South Yard – The Chapel is in this area. ...The Administration Building – In the early years the warden was required to live in the prison and his living quarters were on the top two floors of this building. Viewing this building from the back you can see a platform with a rust/red awning. This was to allow the warden to step out onto the platform and speak to the prisoners. The area below the administration is the boiler room. ...The maximum security lockup ...The Psych Ward ...The electric chair, called Old Sparky. The black mask that you see beside the electric chair was worn by any inmate being executed. ...The Chapel The aerial video footage was created using my Phantom 2 Vision+ drone, and for the interior I used a GoPro Silver camera.