Abandoned Workhouse Prison in St. Louis
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- Опубликовано: 25 фев 2023
- This abandoned prison was known as the Medium Security Institution in recent years, but was originally called the St Louis workhouse.
The original workhouse location opened back in 1853 near the intersection of south broadway and Meramec Street on St. Louis south side. The site was specifically chosen for the workhouse because of its close proximity to the banks of the Mississippi River, were there were rocky bluffs, and deep Gullies loaded with rich clay deposits.
The purpose of the workhouse was quite simple. If you were convicted of a crime that required the payment of a fine or a penalty that you could not afford to pay, you would then be incarcerated for a period of time to work off the debt through hard labor. Prisoners could not be held longer than six months and were paid 50 cents a day, which was actually generous pay for back in that time period.
The prisoners would work along the banks of the Mississippi River during the day, and then return back to the prison in the evening where they were all houses in different cell blocks, each cell was 12 x 16 feet, and held a shocking six prisoners in each cell. An interesting fact is that the workhouse was considered isolated and so far from the city of St. Louis that the prison guards, the superintendent, and the warden also lived on the prison property, with the guards housed in barracks.
Although the average stay of the prisoners at the workhouse was six months tops, many say it was the most grueling and unforgettable time of their lives. Like something out of a Hollywood movie, the prisoners were marched down into the yawning mouth of a giant quarry every morning, stopping only for lunch, before working late into the evening. With the exception of some women who were seamstresses, both men and women worked in the quarry. Ten-hour days were the norm and while chained in manacles, the workers would break stones with sledgehammers. The stone was then packed into the street beds throughout the city and some of the rich clay was used to make the famous bricks that also helped build St Louis in the early 1900s.
The hard labor was said to be so brutal and backbreaking that it caused many prisoners to go completely mad and drove some to the point of no return, leading to both suicide and even murder. After several riots took place over the harsh conditions at the prison, the decision was made to close the old workhouse prison and build a new one.
The old workhouse prison was demolished when the new Interstate 55 was built right through it.
When the new Medium Security Institution was built in 1966, the workhouse name stuck, although they no longe require prisoners to work hard labor to pay off debts. The new workhouse was not without its own course of public problems, eventually leading to its closure. Although there had been years of complaints and reports regarding the grim reality of life behind bars at the workhouse, it received little scrutiny or backlash until 2017. One of the very first things to come about nationally was during a heat wave in the summer of 2017, dozens of protesters gathered outside the workhouse prison and chanted “shut it down,” after a video showing prisoners in sweltering 100 degree temperatures inside the jail begging for relief went viral. Many protestors gathered outside the prison to protest the extreme heat, black mold, broken plumbing, and rodent infestation inside the jail.
A local justice reform group got involved and sued the city of St Louis over the now infamous harsh conditions at the workhouse prison.
Unfortunately the workhouse story wasn’t over. Story didn’t end there. Shorty after the workhouse closed, it was used temporarily to hold prisoners that needed to be housed elsewhere after the notorious St. Louis city justice center inmate riots over its own harsh conditions.
The last inmates left the workhouse prison in the summer of 2022. The prison has since permanently closed. After the workhouse protests, lawsuit, and the other negative attention was brought into the public spotlight, the city of St. Louis was left with no other choice but to close the overcrowded and underfunded prison. The St. Louis workhouse aka the medium security institution was finally closed in 2021.
Upon our exploration of the workhouse prison we discovered some form of renovations and rehabilitation already underway. It will be interesting to see what happened with the once notorious St. Louis workhouse prison.
And that takes us to the conclusion of yet another video from Abandoned Central. We hope everyone enjoyed the video and you can see more photos from the prison and our other locations , check out our website, abandonedcentral.com. Also please subscribe to abandoned central on RUclips so you don’t miss any other videos. Thank you friends, we are truly grateful for all the support. 
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Looks 1000X nicer than it was in 2015-2016, watched a young man's life end because of guards that couldn't have cared less, and medics that had better things to do "he had heart failure". The walls were crumbling, and ceilings were covered in black mildew/mold. It was boiling hot in the summer and hypothermia cold in the winter. The craziest part is that the people still came together for each other, black, white, yellow, or brown. We were a community, and we had respect for each other. It's funny that our current "FREE" society can't accomplish the same thing.
I was in the St. Louis city jail whenever the last inmates came from the workhouse. This was only months ago, I’m shocked you have the balls to go into a jail still owned and operated. The guys at the workhouse had cell phones, drugs, everything was over there.
I thinking it's good the got them phones so they can record what officers really be doing n there
Got outta justo in January. Still saw them blue wristbands all over the place while I was down.
dude. this looks nicer than the prison i work at and weve been open almost continuously since 1850. the only time we closed down was after the big riot in mid 1890 and when we built the new cell houses in the 1970s
Glad I went when it was fresh. Went back recently and everything is boxed up now, nothing really left inside. They’re actively working on it since it flooded.
hahah i missed Fran and them by like 20 min. Super bummed it looked this way :/
You should look up firefighting door chalks They're light easy to carry and offer a little piece of mind when you're in places like that. Even better they're fairly cheap so you don't have to leave an expensive bag behind. Or if you end up going a different way and forgetting about them. They're designed in two ways you can either wedge it underneath the door or hold the door all the way open by hanging it on the hinge. I think they're called wedge it door chalks
Your wallet or small book would do the same..
@@sircampbell1249 do you really want to leave your wallet there and try and remember to go back and get it?
@@Rusty_Nickle go out the way you came in...sure
Wow,thanks for sharing this location
I’ spent a year there it was a war zone!
@@deandreharris7669 OMG🙀
The boiler and fire suppression system froze and burst due to extremely low temperatures during the holidays. I can tell you were there way after because none of our drying equipment was in place still. I work for the mitigation company that cleaned it out. We essentially cleaned the entire place out. Trashed all of the contents inside because it was soaked and removed the plaster ceilings in affected areas. Must have been over the weekend because we didn’t work most weekends.
I wish I could have got alot of those containers and tvs and lighting and whatever else
I would have took those extension cords and spider boxes they are worth alot
@@coreybabcock2023that’s called stealing
Great video!
Thank you for watching!
@@abandonedcentralI spent a whole year there you didn’t get the real gladiator pods. The open bey where the men was housed.those cells was the female side,medical pods,& the whole where the Air-condition was at.Up stairs we had nothing but dusty fans,rats,and broken windows.🤷🏾♂️
So gooddd!!🙌🙌🙌
thanks for sharing. I didn’t know that prison work house was in my hometown of St. Louis Missouri.
Thanks for watching our video!
You're Welcome
Then st.louis isn't your home town lol
St.louis county isn't st.louis
@@autoglass08 I know that.
I would definitely grab that ipad and those radios and tools ! What a treasure Trove !
i spent a total of 2.5 years here over the course of 3 9 month stints which was your average stay here before you were able to get resolve in court at some point. the areas that are shown predominantly in this video are of the butterfly dorms in the back of the institution. this was where the women were held and also where the "hole' was located. i did a total of 60 days in the whole in one shot for fighting. and a few short 10 day stays for tattooing. this area is not the grevious point of this institution. this area was the airconditioned units and many guys durin the summer would fight to get some ac relief in the hole. the main building is where it all went down. first and foremost im white and white folks were designated to 2 main open bays. 1 dorm and h dorm upstairs. they were also housed in the workers dorms if they had a kitchen job. that means every othe bay or wing was all black. this jail was the wildest enviornment id ever been in. ive done a total of 15 years over 3 different states. this jail was wide open. fights everyday. on the overnights many of the cos would let guys fight it out in the front of the dorms and even watch. i had a third shift co who would brig me a tape player motor everytime i landed there so i could tattoo. i had drawn the patch for his motorcycle group while i was there and he paid me in return everytime i landed. i tattooed there freely, we hit boxes, meaning stole canteen food from the powerless, ive been in one on one fights and ive been involved in jumoing people, checking people into pc and extorting others. if the officer didnt see it they did not care. they would happily come clean up the mess and roll out the victims in any situation. we smoked roll ups everyday. they were brought in by the officers. we did heroin regularly that was brought in by the officers or dealers who were brought in. ive seen broken jaws stabbings brutal beat downs and beat downs handed out by the oficers. there was no ac in the summer and little heat in the winter. the best bunk was by the large fans in the officers catwalks. the same inmates were always ther and when you got there you knew you would see a buddy and you also knew you would see an enemy. the last portion of this video is of one of the large open bay dorms like h dorm or a&o. these were gladiator bays full of violence and laughter. you always had to be on your a game and always be prepared to fight. as a tattoo artist i never had anything to worry about. everybody wants a tattoo in jail. during the 90s and early 2000s the was a big blood and cript issue in the lou. one dorm would be all bloods. the other all crips and they did not like each other and it used to po off in the chow hall. the wing with all the cells with the bars on the front was north and south max which used to hold max inmates until the justice center opened. they were one man cell and i detoxed a mean tar habit in south max. sneezed over 150 times in 5 days. if there was any place in the world that i would want to do time on a' i dont give a fuck' level it would be here. anything went here. anything. its wild to know its closed. i live in florida. moved here in 2019. this place has given me some solid memories and i dont see any of them as bad regardless of how bad the event may have been. there is an odd comradare in a place like this. a place the is 100% black and white. no latinos or asians. seen 1 or 2 the entire time. it was a wild wild place and in some sick way im sad to see it go. anyone who did time there will tell you it could be a lot of fun. warped fun but fun none the less. other things: medical was solid. had 3 teeth fixed in that very dental chair. the dentist had a private practiced but volunteeered there once a week and was a good dude. most of the officers were meh but they let shit slide! honorable mentions with officers: shrek, mrs morehead, marley mar and miss king. hey nooooow. dishonorable mentions for officers: captain casey. captain casey was a dick. he would tell you that he'd fugg your mama has he beat the shit out of you. he had a hit squad that would run in on you and drag you to the hole and whoop you the whiole way. real piece of shit. i ran into him at macys at nw plaza one day. didnt say nothin. he had a big thumper on his hip. duck and cover when hes comin and dont make eye contact, but do call him a dick sucker in a crowded hallway to hear him spaz out. luetenent lindsey. suave ass third shift deek sugga. he would come in during the middle of the night if you were makin too much noise and randomly tear your shit apart and throw it everywhere. i snuck a shower at 3 am one night and that fugga caught me. came in and tore the shower curtain down in front of the whole wing. it was hopping at night cause that was the only time it got cool in the summer. i was his and his families waiter at applebees in the west end one night. i didnt do any thing to his food but after it was served said 'hey i recognize you, your lt lindsey!' most officers either sucked up to these 2 scumbags or didnt so you can guess which ones were the half decent officers. a fair amount of male officers were certified dick watchers and would try and look at you in the shower or love to shake you down and strip you out. check me out on instagram at philadelphia_edub
Hey thanks for telling your story bro. That's history right there.
So very cool
That is a big work house you are exploring
I think you guys should really check out casa by the sea in Ensenada Mx that housed many teens and was shut down by the federales
Nice.
Those pictures need to be returned to whoever had them
@@olyckssister ohh
I definitely would be getting all that wiring and fans and spider boxes
Being poor shouldn't be a reason to jail a human being. So sad.
Hmmm…. You flew to Chicago and drove 6 hours to get to St.Louis? So where did you get loss for those extra 2 hours then, since it’s only a 4 hour drive?
Lol not that serious but since you ask. Add on an xtra 45 minutes for the snow in Chicago then 30 minutes off route to pick up my friend.
I would have to take alot of that stuff in there bring a U-Haul or something
how is it possible you shot all the vid with out getting busted? it seems like people are still working in there ..floor dryer machines running,did you pay to get access for filming?
i think he got access for sure
I would take the computer in the medical office
Let’s show this to the kids and say how would you want to live here? Do good in school and don’t do drugs. This generation has no thoughts of anything but social media.
Contact it save millions..
They changed the whole jail.
Nowdays you got your rule 8 and fines waiting for you to pay when you get out!
Imagine breakin into an abandoned prison and then they reopen it nd throw u in there 😭😭
💪💪💪
That doesn't look like the workhouse..there was no cells who i was there. 1989 was the last time i was there....I've never seen those wings..it was 40 or 50 men to a dorm...no cells.
They shouldn't have closed it. They should've made it bigger for more crimanals
its crazy that people protested against this. if you commit a crime you need to be punished for it. i think the workhouse was a great system
I agree with that!
No take it from a person that’s been there for 365 days. It’s more than punishment.You had innocents people there for traffic tickets getting beaten bloody by inmates and guards.50,60,70 yr old men getting jumped on and beaten up for their commissary.Eveyone isn’t a Criminal the Justices System is just pathetic & corrupt.🤷🏾♂️
So I guess you basically believe in modern slave labor jeez 🤔
Obviously you ain't from or been in St Louis, this place is infamous for the way people were treated
Wow 50c a day was a lot. Try getting 50 cents in coins from back in 1870’s- 90’s;)
I would take that oc spray too
It's. Not a prison,it was worse than any maximum security prison.
It was def not worse then any maximum security prison.
🙋♀️👍👍👍👍
Thanks for watching!
Welcome to St Louis aka the jungle if you played in the streets you spent some nights in the workhouse AKA terrordome see when you started walking in the beginning those were the holes in the women cells that was the only place in the jail that had air conditioning and heat close to the end where they was doing construction those were the original dorms and cells I was in C Dorm then we had a riot then I start moving around upstairs I wouldn't recommend it for nobody those dorms at the end held 70 to 80 men and was only supposed to hold 70 and when it was in the bed they had boats you can sleep in the longest time you can stay there is two years after two years you were going home or they send you to whatever jail you was sentenced to I was there before phones was in jail between 2016-2017 it is not for the weak you are in the middle of game bangers you might as well say you're outside but locked inside I've seen things you wouldn't even imagine donk Louiey Northside ride peace love and Jerry curl juice High vibrations to have a good day
Too bad the place is abandoned...
It'd just about fit every Shillitician in the US.
I'd VOLUNTEER to be the Warden 🧐
Dats not da workhouse I know! Had 54man open dorms , not cells. Look like They showin anutha jail. Ijs
100% the workhouse.
I was locked up there for 255dayz . There was not structural there at all thank god it’s closedown,,, I lost so many of my friends do to CO s beat us n Pepper sprayed us and beating us. Then Katrina’s partners down in the hole. I was in there the day they were riding outside due to the high temperatures and also I was in there when we were throwing the broomstick through one dorm sneaking in contraband and cell phones to the people that see this post hard times and officer Lindsay you’re a b….
The place has a creepy feeling.
1/33 vrsay
Dude, this shouldn't be posted yet. Name dropped, and showing the entrance man, cmon.
You can tell the full story without basically giving the address away
Its done for man. Full construction site now.
Wats wrong with name dropping
@@mariC061 Its not something we don't do if the property is still abandoned. This location is not. Entire place is covered in plastic now. About 50 workers everyday there. Its no longer abandoned or able to be explored. Whenever that happens we will give the history of the location if we can find it.
Big fruckn...deal! Ill tell ur mom, if u don't be quiet!
@@abandonedcentral damn dawg, that didn't last long
Why do you say sick ? It’s better to say this looks cool or great , it’s a horrible word “sick”. It’s 🤮 vomit
Why do you care? Its better to not give your opinion on something so petty.
Bro, maybe don't show exactly how you got in here lmao. Some of use actually live around these bandos and like to go there multiple times. Posting exactly how you walked in is how the ground maintenance and security people know where to go close uo entrances and wait for people to go in and out to catch them. Also this property is unser surveillance so good job not wearing masks lmao. Practice the bare minimum of operational security and it will pay off.
The location isn't abandoned anymore. This comment shows how much information about this location and this hobby you lack. Don't come at me with your dumb shit.
Constant offenders and violent ones should be fed to the hungry. 2 problems solved.
You should like an ass. The world isn't that black and white in a culture of violence. The world can't help the simply mentally unstable, so why should they be sentenced to die just because???
people don't go to prison for a holiday. yet things have gotten out of hand these days. they might as well be in a Hotel, that's how good they've got it. things need to go back to the old ways. no tv, no personal items. just a small bed an empty room and a toilet. you dont get luxuries. you're there for committing a crime. the justice system is so broken now. this place made total sense to me honestly...
i mean they still ppl man they just holding them away from society and real freedom so they do not commit those crimes again
I've been in there spent 5 mos there in the open dorms you want stories contact me. This place is so clean compared to the way it was in 2001
This is what we should be doing this day and age, make the prisoners work for their stay instead of letting them do absolutely nothing all day everyday. Letting them sit around everyday is absolutely not punishing them. They need to restore this prison and start using it again.
No
prison meant to keep them away from society buddy not torture them