Union Correctional Institution
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| Location | 7819 NW 228th Street Raiford, Florida |
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| Status | open |
| Security class | mixed |
| Capacity | 2172 |
| Opened | 1913 |
| Managed by | Florida Department of Corrections |
The Union Correctional Institution, formerly referred to as Florida State Prison, Raiford Prison and State Prison Farm is a Florida Department of Corrections state prison located in unincorporated Union County, Florida, near Raiford.
First opened in 1913, the prison expanded and restructured many times. State Prison Farm was well known as one of the last prisons in America to abolish the practice of convict leasing in 1923. In 1955 the first buildings of the East Unit were established, across the Bradford county line to the south. In July 1972, the East Unit became the new Florida State Prison, and the old prison was redesignated as Union Correctional Facility.
As of 2016 Union remains one of the largest prisons in the Florida system. It houses a maximum capacity of 2,172 adult male prisoners at a range of security levels (Maximum, Close, Medium, Minimum, and Community).
Florida’s largest and oldest correctional institution was established in 1913 to house infirm inmates who could not be leased to private businesses. The initial population of the prison was close to 600 inmates, both male and female. Given the official name of Raiford Penitentiary, the facility was referred to almost exclusively as “State Prison Farm”, as convicts’ duties routinely included farming the 18,000-acre (73 km2) prison property. The population at the facility remained fairly constant during these early years; the number of inmates needed for the farm would dictate the initial capacity for the prison.
In January 1919, Captain J. S. Blitch was appointed warden and attempted to bring about positive change to the facility. The inmates were rewarded for their labors in the field with theatrical productions, and weekly baseball games. However, continued reports of guards beating inmates soured the positive image that Blitch was trying to publicize. Brutal treatment of inmates in the convict lease system would lead to the abandonment of convict lease in 1923. By the early 1920s, the large State Prison Farm property consisted of approximately 4,000 acres (16 km2) under cultivation, kept in large part by the prisoners. Also on the property existed a shoe factory that made 10 pairs of shoes per day. Living conditions in the prison were very poor. The women especially lived in horrid conditions, housed separately from the men in overcrowded, wooden dormitories.
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