Shawshank State Penitentiary is the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio — a vast Romanesque and Gothic Revival pile that looks less like a prison than a cathedral that went wrong. Frank Darabont's crew arrived in 1993, three years after the institution had been closed by court order, and shot in a building that was already scheduled for demolition.
Almost everything about the location is a near-miss. The prison was condemned. Most of it did come down. What survived did so partly because the film gave a group of local preservationists an argument that the building was worth something, and today the Ohio State Reformatory is a museum that receives more visitors as a film location than it ever did attention as a penitentiary.
The building itself
Construction started in 1886 to a design by the Cleveland architect Levi Scofield, and the reformatory opened in 1896 with prisoners still finishing the work. Scofield's brief was reformist in the language of the period: the intimidating ecclesiastical exterior was intended to inspire inmates — young first offenders, in principle — toward moral improvement. The effect on camera is exactly the opposite, which is why it photographs so well as a place of despair.
Inside is the East Cell Block, six tiers high and generally cited as the largest free-standing steel cell block in the world. It is the space that gives the film its scale: the tiers, the walkways, the light falling from the high windows.
Conditions in the reformatory deteriorated badly over the 20th century. A federal lawsuit brought by inmates led to a consent decree, and the institution was ordered closed in 1990. It sat empty until the film crew arrived.
Filmed in Mansfield, all over Mansfield
The reformatory supplied the cell blocks, the administration building, the warden's office and the prison exteriors. A number of other locations in and around Mansfield filled in the rest of the film's world.
The Brewer Hotel, where Brooks and later Red live after release, is the Bissman Building on North Main Street in Mansfield, a former wholesale grocery warehouse. The Portland, Maine of the story is Ohio throughout. The parole hearings, the bank Andy visits under an assumed name, and the store where Red works were all local.
The oak tree at Buxton, where Andy leaves the letter under the black volcanic rock, stood in a field near Malabar Farm State Park outside Mansfield. It did not survive: the tree was split by a storm in 2011 and was largely destroyed by another in 2016. The site is on private farmland and there is nothing left to see, though the stump was salvaged and pieces of the wood are held locally.
Zihuatanejo is in the Caribbean
The final shot — the blue water, the boat, Red walking up the beach toward Andy — is not Mexico. It was filmed at Sandy Point on St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands, a protected beach and turtle nesting site.
Darabont has said that the reunion on the beach was not in the original cut and that he was initially resistant to including it, considering the bus-ride ending sufficiently hopeful. The studio wanted the reunion. It stayed, and it is now the image most people carry away from the film.
What saved the building
After the shoot, most of the prison complex was demolished — the outer walls, the guard towers and much of the surrounding structure went. The Mansfield Reformatory Preservation Society formed in 1995 and took on the administration building and the cell blocks.
The result is a building maintained in arrested decay rather than restored: peeling paint, rusted tiers, water damage left visible. Tours run year-round, including self-guided routes through the cell blocks and the warden's quarters, and the site does substantial business in overnight ghost hunts. The Shawshank Trail links a dozen filming locations across the area for anyone who wants to drive the whole set.
Visiting the location
- Where
- Ohio State Reformatory, 100 Reformatory Road, Mansfield, Ohio.
- Getting there
- About 75 minutes north of Columbus and an hour south-west of Cleveland by car, just off US-30.
- Access
- Open to the public as a museum, with self-guided and guided tours most days; check seasonal hours before travelling. Paid admission. Evening paranormal tours are booked separately.
- The self-guided tour includes the six-tier East Cell Block and the warden's apartment — allow at least two hours.
- The building is unheated, uneven and largely unrestored. Sensible shoes, and a coat in winter.
- The Shawshank Trail map covers the other Mansfield locations, including the Bissman Building.
- Do not go looking for the oak tree. It was destroyed by storms in 2011 and 2016 and the site is private farmland.
Frequently asked questions
Is Shawshank Prison a real prison?
Yes — it is the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio, which operated from 1896 until it was closed by court order in 1990. The film was shot there in 1993.
Can you visit the Shawshank prison?
Yes. The Ohio State Reformatory operates as a museum with self-guided and guided tours year-round, plus overnight paranormal events.
Where was the beach at the end of Shawshank filmed?
At Sandy Point on St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands, standing in for Zihuatanejo in Mexico.
Does the Shawshank oak tree still exist?
No. The tree near Malabar Farm was split by a storm in 2011 and destroyed by another in 2016. The location is private farmland with nothing to see.