Watch: PANTERA’s CHARLIE BENANTE Visits Ohio State Reformatory

This past July, PANTERA drummer Charlie Benante was interviewed by Danny Wimmer Presents‘ “Paranormal Prison” at Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio prior to the band’s performance at the Inkcarceration Music & Tattoo Festival. Check out the report below.

Built in 1886, the Ohio State Reformatory served for 94 years as a working prison, housing more than 154,000 prisoners and setting the scene for major motion pictures, including “The Shawshank Redemption”, “Air Force One” and others. Listed on the National Register Of Historic Places, the prison boasts the world’s largest free-standing steel cellblock and is known as the ultimate place to ghost hunt.

By the 1920s, Ohio State Reformatory went from a prison used to reform small-time criminals to a full-fledged maximum security prison. It was eventually closed due to unsuitable conditions and overcrowding.

According to some estimates, 25,000 prisoners, including several corrections officers, lost their lives inside the prison walls.

“The Shawshank Redemption” was filmed at Ohio State Reformatory and central Ohio in June, July and August 1993.