Ohio Penitentiary fire
The Ohio Penitentiary fire occurred on April 21, 1930, when a fire broke out while prisoners were repairing the wooden roof of certain cell blocks. The incident began around 5:39 p.m., when the first alarm was raised by a passerby after several inmates and a guard noticed the flames. Prison staff focused on managing the situation and ensuring prisoner safety rather than fighting the fire. Tragically, many inmates in the G and H cell blocks, which were heavily impacted by smoke, could not be evacuated in time, leading to significant loss of life, particularly among African Americans who were disproportionately affected.
This catastrophic event prompted the establishment of fire-safety codes for correctional facilities across the United States, marking a significant shift in fire management policies within prisons. Additionally, the aftermath of the fire influenced legislative changes in Ohio, including the repeal of mandatory sentencing laws in 1931 to address overcrowding issues. The implementation of new safety measures has since led to a marked reduction in fire incidents in U.S. prisons, showcasing the long-term impact of this tragedy on correctional facility operations and safety standards.
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Subject Terms
Ohio Penitentiary fire
The Event Fire that killed 320 state prisoners and injured 133 others
Date April 21, 1930
Place Columbus, Ohio
The most fatal in the history of U.S. correctional facilities, this fire called national attention to the dangers of antiquated, overcrowded prisons full of combustible materials, in which staff were not trained in fire evacuation and rescue.
In the late afternoon of April 21, 1930, prisoners were repairing the wooden roof of cell blocks I and K. Work ended at 4:00 p.m., and prisoners in the old wing, G and H cell blocks, had returned to their cells and been locked in for the night. About ninety minutes later, several prisoners and a guard reported a fire on the roof, and a passerby on the street outside the prison turned in the first alarm at 5:39 p.m. The fire department eventually called in four alarms.
Prison staff did not fight the fire, instead concentrating their attention on controlling, rather than evacuating, the prisoners. A guard in G and H block was overwhelmed by smoke before he could unlock the cells in these units, where the largest loss of life occurred. Chester Himes’s Yesterday Will Make You Cry (1998), a fictionalized autobiography of one of the four thousand prisoners in the massively overcrowded Ohio Penitentiary during this period, depicts this scene graphically. African Americans were significantly overrepresented among the dead and injured.
Impact
The Ohio Penitentiary fire initiated the development of fire-safety codes for correctional facilities nationwide. It also had consequences for the state of Ohio, which repealed mandatory sentencing in 1931, relieving prison overcrowding. Because of the fire safety measures instituted in the wake of the disaster, the number of fires in prisons and jails has fallen steadily since 1930. In 1980, for example, there were only four fires in U.S. prisons and jails, and there was only one in 2002.
Bibliography
Ahrens, Marty. Selections from U.S. Fires in Selected Occupancies: Prisons and Jails. Quincy, Mass.: National Fire Protection Association, 2006.
Carson, Wayne G. “Detention and Correctional Facilities.” In Fire Protection Handbook. 20th ed. Boston: National Fire Protection Association, 2008.
Himes, Chester B. Yesterday Will Make You Cry. New York: Norton, 1998.
Sellers, T. B. Report on the Ohio State Penitentiary Fire, Columbus, Ohio, April 21, 1930. Columbus: Ohio Inspection Bureau, 1930.