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Lorton Reformatory

D.C. Workhouse and Reformatory Historic District
Lorton Reformatory - from the quad4.jpg
The historic prison from the quad
Lorton Reformatory is located in Northern Virginia
Lorton Reformatory
Lorton Reformatory is located in Virginia
Lorton Reformatory
Lorton Reformatory is located in the US
Lorton Reformatory
Location Laurel Hill, Virginia
Area 511.3 acres (206.9 ha)
Built 1910 (1910)
Architectural style Colonial Revival, Beaux Arts
NRHP Reference # 06000052
VLR # 029-0947
Significant dates
Added to NRHP February 16, 2006
Designated VLR December 7, 2005, March 27, 2012

The Lorton Reformatory was a prison built in 1910 for the District of Columbia, United States, in what is now known as Laurel Hill, Virginia. It closed in 2001. It was operated by the District of Columbia Department of Corrections. Lorton was also the site of a bunker used by the government from 1959 to 2001 that housed emergency communications equipment to be used in the event of a war with the Soviet Union.

Plans for the workhouse were ongoing in 1910 with Snowden Ashford as the Municipal Architect responsible for the workhouse while Leon E. Dessez was the special architect who was appointed by the commissioners to draft plans for the new workhouse. It opened in 1916 as a facility for less serious offenders in the Lorton Correctional Complex. It is located in nearby Lorton in southern Fairfax County, Virginia. In 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed a special Penal Commission to investigate deplorable conditions of the District of Columbia's jail and workhouse in Washington. As a result, the Commission recommended a complete change in the philosophy and treatment of prisoners in D.C. The United States Congress acted upon this recommendation, and a 1,155-acre (5 km2) tract north of the Occoquan River was purchased in 1910 through condemnation proceedings.

Classically inspired, symmetrical dormitory complexes were constructed instead of cellblocks. The brick buildings were built by the prisoners themselves, using brick manufactured at the on-site kiln complex located on the banks of the Occoquan. It became known in its later years, however, as an outdated and badly overcrowded facility. The last prisoners were removed from Lorton Reformatory late in 2001. As a result of the National Capital Revitalization and Self-Government Improvement Act of 1997, felons from the District of Columbia began going to Federal Bureau of Prisons facilities.


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