Creepy Abandoned Prisons (100 Pics)

Holmesburg Prison, Philadelphia, PA, USA.

Built in 1896.

Closed in 1995.

The prison was home to extensive dermatological, pharmaceutical, and biochemical weapons research projects involving testing on inmates that occurred for decades. This prison was a focal point of trials and eventually the moral and ethical dilemma on testing on inmates. Eventually it was put to an end but not after countless tests and their damaging effects on the prisoners.

The prison saw riots in the early 1970s, resulting in deaths of guards and inmates.

Always controversial for its extensive testing on inmates, which was eventually shut down, Holmesburg also had a report printed in 1968 that detailed extensive rape of inmates at the prison. What was so shocking was it involved numerous guards.

Today the prison is still used, but mainly for films. Most recently, in 2009, the film Law Abiding Citizen was filmed here.

Goli Otok, Croatia.

Originally this island was used to house Russian soldiers captured in WWI. Eventually, it evolved into a full fledge prison in 1949.

It would be shut down in 1989.

Originally an anti-communist prison, mainly holding political prisoners before expanding into a maximum security facility for the former Yugoslavia sometime in the late 1950s.

The prisoners would be used for forced labor on the island, often with no regard for safety, the weather, or their health. Guards beat inmates regular, and rarely intervened if an inmate attacked another, even if they killed each other.

Eventually, Yugoslavia made better relations with the USSR, and the prison converted into just a regular prison, and hard forced labor and incidents were reduced in the 1970s.

Eventually it wasn't worth its upkeep on the island, having out of date facilities and in need of an overhaul. It was decided in 1989 to close the prison and abandon the island. The facilities haven't been touched since outside of curious tourists and weather damage.

Paterei Prison, Estonia.

Built in 1840 as a fortress for the Russian empire, it was in fact never used for its intended purpose. Instead it was just used as a barracks until the fall of the Russian empire in 1917.

In 1920 it was turned into a prison. Regardless of what regime controlled the area, it maintained its prison status all the way up until 2002.

The facility housed criminals of all kinds, and experiments were said to be conducted here, but records of such actions were destroyed at the fall of the USSR and have never been a major topic since.

Today it is a museum, well maintained overall but still has its creepy vibe. Tourists visit it quite often.

William Porter Reformatory, Takai, South Africa.

Built in 1892 to house inmates, this prison played a role in shaping the deep segregation in South Africa. A key reason was all inmates were 16 or younger.

Beatings, forced labor, violent offenders attacking each other, and all from children. This prison, from its history, sounds like a terrible prison for the worst of the worst adults instead of a juvenile detention center.

Closed in 1984, it forced isolation on its inmates for the latter half of its use. Long periods in completely dark solitary confinements for the inmates, with or without reason sometimes.

Today its just a tourist attraction, with inmates writings and bullet holes from executions still on the walls. Yes, they executed youths for many years in the early stages of the prison.

The Stockade at Fort Ord, California, USA.

Built in 1917 as expanded over the years, the stockade so active use for prisoners of war during numerous American conflicts.

Additions and upgrades were constant to accommodate its use. But as the fort became less needed, so did the stockade.

The fort closed in 1994, part of the scaling back of military installations the US went through in the 1990s.

Just like most of Fort Ord, the stockade has just been sitting there ever since, falling apart slowly. The fort is mostly off limits, but that doesn't stop many curious tourists.