Pendleton Correctional Facility

The Pendleton Correctional Facility, formerly known as the Indiana Reformatory, is a state prison located in Fall Creek Township, Madison County, near Pendleton and about 25 miles (40 km) northeast of Indianapolis. Established in 1923, it was built to replace the Indiana State Reformatory located in Jeffersonville after a fire severely damaged the original property. The Pendleton facility currently offers maximum and minimum-security housing for adult males over 22 years old. The maximum-security portion is made up of 31 acres (130,000 m²) surrounded by a concrete wall. It has an average daily population of approximately 1,650 inmates. [1] (Archived 2006-09-06 at the Wayback Machine) Located on the grounds outside the enclosure, the minimum-security dormitory holds approximately 200 prisoners on a daily basis.

Indiana's first state prison was opened on January 9, 1821, in Jeffersonville. The prison, later called Indiana State Prison South, accepted inmates regardless of age, sex, offense, or sentence. In 1847, the prison buildings were in poor repair and the decision was made that it would be built a new in nearby Clarksville. Another prison opened in the northern part of the state in Michigan City, Indiana and the inmates were divided between the two. In 1897, due to the belief that young male offenders should not be housed with their older counterparts, inmates were divided by age between the South and North. The Indiana State Prison South became home to inmates age 16 to 30 and the prison was renamed the Indiana Reformatory.

During the night of February 6, 1918, a fire severely damaged the majority of the buildings at Clarksville. The Governor's Commission decided to build a new prison in a more centrally located site. A plot of land south of the city of Pendleton was selected because Fall Creek provided a source of running water. The construction commenced at the new locale during March 1922.

Herbert W. Folz was the architect in charge of designing the new prison. The facility is an "example of a 'radial plan' prison, in which the cell blocks fan out from a central point." According to a report on the Reformatory, Folz "made a conscious effort to arrange the buildings within the enclosure in such a manner that a maximum of light and air and green grass would be in evidence." The buildings were modeled after the Spanish Colonial Revival style. The original facilities included three cell houses, a dormitory, and the administration building.

Construction on the prison continued until March 1924 when A. F. Miles, the General Superintendent, ended the contracts with the architect and other contractors. He proposed completing construction on the prison using inmates as the laborers. Miles organized the prisoners into groups, with each group concentrating on a specific aspect of the work. Each of these specialty groups was assigned to a professional in the field who would provide them guidance in learning the craft. Some of the tasks inmates participated in included bricklaying, plumbing, roofing, electrical work, and painting. By switching from free labor to inmate labor, Miles decreased the labor costs from $61,000 to $4,500 in a short amount of time. While inmate labor was an effective cost-cutting tool, it also gave the men an opportunity to learn a "useful trade." Miles continued his cost-cutting ways by purchasing materials at a lower price than the plan had originally allotted.

In June 1996, the Indiana General Assembly passed House Enrolled Act 1229 which changed the name of the Indiana Reformatory. Put into effect on July 1, 1996, the Indiana Reformatory was officially named the Pendleton Correctional Facility.

In 2017, American filmmaker Madeleine Sackler created two films filmed entirely in Pendleton Correctional Facility. One is fictional drama titled O.G. and the second is a cinéma vérité-style documentary called It's a Hard Truth, Ain't It. This is the first time that a fiction and non-fiction film have been filmed entirely inside a Level 4 prison.

On February 1, 1985, a riot took place at the Pendleton Correctional Facility, then still known as the Indiana Reformatory. An inmate, Lincoln Love, who also referred to himself as Lokmar Yazid Abdul Wadood and died in 2020 while serving a sentence for involvement with the riot, was badly beaten by correctional officers after he refused to vacate his cell during a weapons check, also called a shakedown. Tear gas was used in large quantities in the cellblock, although eyewash was only offered to the officers. Inmates John Cole and Christopher Trotter rushed to the maximum restraint unit where the beating had taken place. The two proceeded to the infirmary where Love was located and attacked the officers in that area. They held staff hostage when they took over the J-Cellhouse. After the riot was over, inmates had stabbed seven correctional officers and held three employees hostage for 17 hours.