MANSFIELD, Ohio — A painted yellow line on the prison floor marks the exact spot where new prisoner Andy Dufresne first comes into contact with evil Warden Norton.
It might also be considered the spot where the historic Ohio State Reformatory was converted from condemned eyesore to spectacular tourist attraction.
Closed by court order in 1990, the prison was slated to be torn down in the days leading up to the filming of “The Shawshank Redemption,” which was released in 1994.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the movie, which some rank as the best movie of all time.
It’s also the silver anniversary of the rescue of the Ohio State Reformatory, the real-life penitentiary in Mansfield that stands in for fictional Shawshank Prison in Maine.
Today, the prison, built in 1896, is open for tours and special events, attracting film fans, history buffs and ghost hunters.
But it’s best known as the place where two fictional inmates forged a remarkable bond over decades of incarceration — and where hope never dies.
The reformatory will be a star attraction next month during a weekend of special events, Aug.16-18, celebrating the anniversary of “The Shawshank Redemption,” including re-enactments, photo opportunities, panel discussions and more.
Numerous actors from the film will be in town for appearances, including Bob Gunton (Warden Norton), William Sadler (Heywood), Mark Rolston (Bogs), and others. As of this writing, neither Tim Robbins (Dufresne) nor Morgan Freeman (Red), the movie’s top stars, had committed to return.
You don’t need to be a fan of the movie to tour the prison, but a recent watching of the film will certainly enhance the experience.
Guide Tom Clark, the prison’s “Shawshank specialist,” has the film loaded onto his phone, watches it an average of once a week, and can recite entire scenes as he leads visitors through the building’s maze of rooms and corridors.
“These walls are funny,” Clark said, quoting Red, as he walked through the front door. “First you hate ’em, then you get used to ’em. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on them.”
Though there have been other movies filmed at the prison — “Tango and Cash” (1989), “Air Force One” (1997), and the just released “Escape Plan: The Extractors” — “Shawshank” is by far the best known and biggest draw.
Fans come from long distances to see the room where Andy hijacked the prison audio equipment to blast Mozart into the prison yard, where Red asked the parole board (repeatedly) for early release, where Andy tells Red about a buried treasure at an oak tree near Buxton.
“The sense of joy when fans come through here — it never gets old,” said Clark.
The prison, of course, didn’t start out as a place of joy, or a movie set.
Constructed during the height of the 19th-century prison reform movement, the facility was built to house first-time offenders, people whom society thought could be “reformed” via exposure to God, education and work.
Combining several architectural styles, Cleveland architect Levi Scofield designed the building to look like something other than a prison — a castle, perhaps, or a college, with turrets, angular roof lines and imposing stone walls.
“Whatever your mind says a prison should like, this isn’t it,” said Clark.
Eventually, the reform movement fell out of favor. In 1930, a fire at the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus forced the relocation of hundreds of violent prisoners to Mansfield.
“The devolution continued into the 1960s,” said Clark. “By the 1970s, the living conditions were so bad, prisoners started filing lawsuits.”
One of those lawsuits eventually forced the closure of the prison in 1990.
In 2000, the Mansfield Reformatory Preservation Society bought the building from the state, and started the long, expensive job of restoring it. Much of it remains unfinished; Clark advises visitors to clean their shoes after tours because of the lead paint inside.
Tours begin in the front half of the building, location of the prison administrative offices as well as the living quarters of the warden, assistant warden and chaplain.
Among the “Shawshank” spaces here: Norton’s office, the parole board room and the staircase where Andy pleads for additional library funding.
Much of the furniture here is not original to the film — the crew took set pieces with them, according to Clark. But the safe in the wall of Norton’s office is still intact. Not original to the prison, it was added by the film crew in 1993.
“We make sure there’s a Bible inside,” said Clark, complete with Andy’s final message to the warden: “You were right. Salvation lies within.”
Said Clark, “I’ve been told these sometimes go missing.”
Among the most poignant places on the tour: the room where Brooks ends his own life, after finding life too difficult outside of prison.
In the movie, the scene takes place at a halfway house called the Brewer, the exterior of which is the historic Bissman Building in downtown Mansfield (a stop on the Shawshank Trail; see related story). The interior, however, was filmed inside the prison. A wood ceiling beam includes the carving: “Brooks was Here” and “So was Red.”
Clark used to recite Brooks’ final words as he guided tour groups through the space. “It would bum everybody out so I stopped doing it,” he said.
From the spacious, well-appointed front half of the prison, visitors cross into the rear, more sinister space.
Two large cell blocks jut to east and west, housing 154,000 inmates over 90-plus years of operation. Dubbed the Hilton, the west cellblock, with five floors of cells made of brick, was the more humane.
The east wing, still the largest self-supporting steel cellblock in the world, housed six floors of 100 cells each, 8 feet by 5 feet wide, with as many as three inmates in each during overcrowded stretches.
“They look like human cages. The conditions were horrific,” said Clark. “Hollywood loves it because it’s so terrifying.”
As creepy as they are, “Shawshank” director Frank Darabont did not use the prison cell interiors here in the movie. He wanted cells that faced each other, to enhance communication among the inmates. The cells here are outward facing, opening toward exterior walls.
Instead, film crews created a massive cellblock in a downtown Mansfield warehouse, which has since been torn down.
Other spots from the movie on the prison tour:
* The shower where Andy first encounters sadistic Bogs. The prison didn’t have running water when the film was shot, so the fire department hooked up hoses for the scene. The water was so cold, the scene was shot in one take, according to Clark.
* The Central Guard Room, used as the prison cafeteria in the movie, and now used for weddings, corporate meetings and special events.
* The tunnel and sewer pipe used in Andy’s escape were props used in the movie that are on display inside the reformatory.
Outdoor access to the former prison yard, shown extensively in the movie, is limited on most tours because it is adjacent to Richland Correctional Institute, built not long after the Ohio State Reformatory was closed. (Take the Behind the Bars tour for more outdoor access, plus a trip up the guard tower.)
The tour ends in the intake room, where Andy first encounters Warden Norton, who famously recites the rules of the prison. (Rule No. 1: No blasphemy; “the other rules you’ll figure out as you go along.”)
“Fans like to line up on the line and have their photo taken,” said Clark. “This is a sacred place for Shawshank fans.”
Indeed, the entire prison is sacred space for some Shawshank fans, who make pilgrimages to Mansfield from near and far to see where Red and Andy found hope amid so much despair.
Clark likes to point out that the reformatory, created more than a century ago to give its inhabitants a second chance, wouldn’t exist today if not for the movie.
“A movie about hope literally helped save a building about hope,” he said. That’s an ending Hollywood would appreciate.
Touring the Ohio State Reformatory
Where: 100 Reformatory Road, Mansfield
When: 11 a.m.-4 p.m. daily April through September
Tours options: History Meets Hollywood, Beyond the Bars, Inmate Tour (led by former inmate Mike Humphrey). Self-guided tours also available. Check website for schedule.
Also here: The reformatory houses the several-room Ohio State Corrections Museum, which features numerous artifacts from Ohio prison history. Among the items on display: Old Sparky, the electric chair used at the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus from 1897 to 1963.
The reformatory is also working to establish a Shawshank Museum inside the building, featuring props and artifacts from the film.
Admission: $15-$20
Information: mrps.org, 419-522-2644
Read more: Following the Shawshank Trail, from the Ohio State Reformatory to the felled oak tree and beyond