Portsmouth Naval Prison
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Portsmouth Naval Prison is a former U.S. Navy and Marine prison in Kittery, Maine on Seavey's Island, the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNS) compound. The building's appearance earned it a nickname, "the Castle." Others called it "Alcatraz of the East" because no inmate ever successfully escaped. Erected near the site of former Fort Sullivan, the reinforced concrete naval prison was occupied from 1908 until 1974.
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[edit] Fort Sullivan & Camp Long
| Fort Sullivan | |
|---|---|
| (U.S. Registered Historic District) | |
| Added to NRHP: | January 26, 1970 |
| NRHP Reference#: | 70000081 |
The island site was first used in 1775 during the Revolution when the New Hampshire militia, commanded by General John Sullivan, constructed an earthwork defense called Fort Sullivan atop the bluff. In conjunction with Fort Washington across the Piscataqua River on Pierce Island, it guarded the channel to Portsmouth. The militia withdrew about three years later. The fort was reactivated for the British-American War in 1814. In 1863, it was rebuilt to protect Portsmouth against attacks by the Confederate navy. After 1866, Fort Sullivan was dismantled. Camp Long, named for Secretary of the Navy John Long, was erected nearby during the Spanish-American War. From July 11 to mid-September in 1898, the stockade housed 1,612 Spanish prisoners, including Admiral Pascual Cervera, until returned to Spain.[1]
[edit] "Alcatraz of the East"
When Camp Long was dismantled in 1901, the site became available for a naval prison. Constructed between 1905–1908, the brig was modeled after Alcatraz, set on an island with tidal currents to deter escape. Colonel Kelton of the Marine Corps was in command when the first Navy prisoners arrived in 1908. It would eventually house Marine inmates as well. The central crenellated tower, roofed in copper, was erected in 1912. Lieutenant Commander Thomas Osbourne assumed command in 1917. Called "the Father of Naval Corrections," Osbourne and 2 others went undercover in the prison to see what changes needed to be made, including living conditions. During World War I, the prison housed wartime convicts, reaching a maximum of 2,295 in 1918. Two wings were added -- in 1942 the northeast wing, and in 1943 the unornamented southwest wing, dubbed "the Fortress," which rises sheer beside the rocky shore.
Maximum occupancy reached 3,088 in 1945.[1] After World War II ended in Europe on May 5, 1945, several German U-boats in the area surrendered and were towed to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, the nearest submarine base. Arrival of the U-boats created a stir, so one was put on display and opened to visitors. After Marine guards collected various crew belongings as souvenirs, the Germans were confined at the naval prison.[2] The brig was used throughout the Korean War and almost to the end of the Vietnam War. During warmer months, it was not uncommon for boats navigating the river to hear shouts and whistles coming from within barred windows of "the Fortress." In 1974, however, the Department of Defense developed a three-tiered, regional correctional facility plan. Inmates would be placed depending on the service, sentence length, geographical location and treatment programs. First-tier offenders are those with sentences less than a year, second-tier up to 7 years. Male convicts from all the services sentenced to punitive discharge and incarceration longer than 7 years are confined at the third-tier -- the maximum-security U. S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The Portsmouth Naval Prison, built to be a modern correctional facility for a navy which had once disciplined by flogging, keelhauling and capital punishment, was rendered obsolete. After containing about 86,000 military inmates over its 66 year operation, the brig closed in 1974, its maintenance thereafter contributing to shipyard overhead.
[edit] In popular culture
In the 1973 movie The Last Detail, Seaman Larry Meadows (Randy Quaid) is escorted by petty officers Billy "Badass" Buddusky (Jack Nicholson) and Mule Mulhall (Otis Young) to the Portsmouth Naval Prison. Meadows has been sentenced to 8 years confinement for trying to steal $40 from a charity box. But because of his harsh sentence, the guards feel sorry for Meadows. They decide to show the naive sailor the time of his life before arriving on Seavey's Island (where another location substitutes for the actual brig).
[edit] Disuse
The building was previously one of 14 structures the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard had considered for outleasing and renovation. Local developer Joseph Sawtelle estimated the cost to renovate the immense edifice into civilian office space, including removing lead paint and asbestos, would cost more than $10 million. But plans to adapt the prison were halted a month after Sawtelle's death in 2000, and abandoned altogether after military base security was tightened following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in New York City and Washington D.C. [3]
[edit] References
- ^ a b History of Fort Sullivan.
- ^ The German U-boats Surrender (1945).
- ^ Fabrizio, Richard. "Naval prison plans dead in the water", Portsmouth Herald, 2001-02-25. Retrieved on 2006-09-08.
