Tourism Management Perspectives 4 (2012) 113–118

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Tourism Management Perspectives

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tmp

Touring imprisonment: A descriptive statistical analysis of prison museums

Jeffrey Ian Ross ⁎
School of Criminal Justice, College of Public Affairs, University of Baltimore, 1420 North Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21201, United States

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper briefly reviews the scholarly literature about jail and prison museums. Then it presents the ratio-
Received 24 May 2012 nale and methods for developing a database on these worldwide museums (n = 95). Data on 13 variables
Accepted 12 July 2012 were collected. The study reviews the results of the data collected on 10 of the variables that were coded,
and discusses the implications of the data. The results indicate that the majority of prison museums are locat-
Keywords:
ed in advanced industrialized countries, with the United States having the largest number. Most of the prison
Jail museums
Prison museums
museums in the United States are in California, Colorado, and Texas. Although one of the museums covered
Dark tourism by the database was opened as a correctional facility in 860, the majority of museums worldwide operated as
jails and prisons over the past 150 years and were converted into prison museums after the 1960s. The fact
that the United States has the greatest number of prisons reinforces both the reality and the perception of this
country as one of the most punitive countries in the world.
© 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1 . Introduction
During the past two decades, a handful of scholars have observed,
researched, and written about the complementary phenomena known
as “fright” and “dark” tourism (Lennon & Foley, 2000; Sharpley & Stone,
2009; Stone, 2006; Stone & Sharpley, 2008). Fright tourism “occurs
when a tourist seeks a scary opportunity for pleasure at a destination
that may have a sinister history or may be promoted to have one”
(Bristow & Newman, 2004). Dark tourism, also known as “thanatourism,”
takes place when “tourists are attracted to sites that have a history of
death or some disaster” (Bristow & Newman, 2004, p. 215). One particular
intersection of fright and dark/thanatourism involves decommissioned
jails and prisons. This has spawned a subfield called prison tourism.
Prison tourism sites include infamous and decommissioned correc-
tional facilities, such as the Clink in London; Robben Island near Cape
Town, South Africa (Strange & Kempa, 2003); Alcatraz Prison in San
Francisco, California (Levy, 2000–2001; Loo & Strange, 2000); Eastern
State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and the Louisiana
State Prison at Angola, Louisiana (Adams, 2001). According to the East-
ern State Penitentiary website, there are about 100 prison museums
throughout the world.1
Although tours of currently operating correctional facilities may
not be possible for the public, prison museums offer a glimpse of
⁎ Tel.: +1 202 607 5661.
E-mail address: jross@ubalt.edu.
1
http://www.easternstate.org/learn/research-library/prison-museums
(downloaded July 11, 2011). An attempt was made to locate other listings of prison
museums. Short of a very short and duplicative (and somewhat inaccurate) list avail-
able via www.wikipedia.com, the researcher determined that the Eastern State listing
was the most comprehensive.
what a jail and/or prison might have been like. Such museums are
often located inside or near functional and/or decommissioned cor-
rectional facilities. In addition to original or restored cells, cellblocks,
tiers, and wings, these museums typically display prison memorabilia
and paraphernalia, archival photographs of inmates and prison life,
prison hardware, confiscated weapons and contraband, tools, mecha-
nisms, rooms connected to the administration of the death penalty,
and examples of inmates' arts and crafts. Some have gift shops that
sell books, videos/CDs, t-shirts, key chains, wallets, hats, patches,
buckles, shot glasses, coffee mugs, and sometimes arts and crafts
made by prisoners. Such items bring in extra revenue for these typi-
cally nonprofit businesses.
Almost all prison museums market themselves as tourist attractions
and, predictably, have created attractive brochures and websites. These
museums vary in terms of the visitor's experience. Some allow a great de-
gree of engagement with the exhibits, while others are very passive, leav-
ing the visitor to simply stroll through the site with its minimal signs and
markers. The prison museums also differ regarding the extent to which
they focus on education versus entertainment.
Although fledgling scholarship exists on the prison museum phenom-
enon, it primarily consists of selective case studies. No broad overviews
have yet been written. This research project attempts to provide a missing
piece of this picture by presenting the results of an analysis of a specially
created database on prison museums. Before continuing, the existing
scholarly literature on prison museums and prison tourism is reviewed.
2 . Literature review
Short of being incarcerated and/or working in a correctional facility,
prison/field trips for criminology/criminal justice students (i.e., Bordt &
Lawler, 2005), the Scared Straight or similar programs (Finkenhaur,

2211-9736/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.tmp.2012.07.001
114 J.I. Ross / Tourism Management Perspectives 4 (2012) 113–118
1982), and prison tours/museums, there are very few means whereby the
public is allowed entrance into jails and prisons. In terms of scholarly re-
search, the majority of work on prison museums has been done on selec-
tive correctional facilities that now operate as prison museums.
Although numerous popular and scholarly treatments have been
conducted on individual prisons, few academic, English-language publi-
cations have been produced on the decommissioned jails and prisons
that now serve as museums, on the tour experience of these facilities,
and on visitor reactions. Two such studies deal with Alcatraz (California)
(Levy, 2000–2001; Loo & Strange, 2000); two cover Robben Island (South
Africa) (Phaswana-Mafuya & Haydam, 2005; Shearing & Kempa, 2004);
two review the prison rodeo at Angola Prison (Louisiana) (Adams,
2001; Schrift, 2004); one, in the context of a larger study, looks at Eastern
State Penitentiary (Pennsylvania) (Brown, 2009: Chapter 4); another
looks at Pentridge Prison in Australia (Wilson, 2004b); one reviews the
Port Arthur Museum in Australia (Goc, 2002); and finally, another evalu-
ates the Melbourne Gaol (Gardiner, 2000).
Few of the case studies are comparative in nature, whether in an
intranational or in an international context. Exceptions to this norm in-
clude a comparative analysis of Alcatraz and Robben Island (i.e., Strange
& Kempa, 2003). Two additional studies situate prison museums in the
context of national studies and are nominally comparative (e.g., examina-
tions of all of the prison museums in a particular country). Wilson (2008)
provides an analysis of a series of decommissioned prisons that are used
as tourist facilities in Australia, and Young (1996) does a similar job
with Tasmania. Finally, Wilson (2004a) utilizes an interesting hybrid
approach wherein she combines a biography of an infamous criminal
(i.e., “Chopper” Read) with the conversion of his former place of incarcer-
ation (i.e., Pentridge Prison) into a tourist destination.
Almost all of these studies involve a review of the history of a specific
facility or, in the case of Angola, a unique practice (e.g., the rodeo). Most of
the studies are interpretive in nature. Many of the researchers visit the
prison museums and record their personal experiences. Some of the in-
vestigators (e.g., Shearing & Kempa, 2004) interview the prison museum
management, tour guides, and exhibit designers. Wilson (2008) spent
two years touring both existing and decommissioned prisons in Australia.
She interviewed tour guides, correctional officers, and tourists. Levy
(2000–2001), a law school professor of writing, describes his experience
using a self-guided audio tour of Alcatraz. With the exception of Adams
(2001), who applies Foucauldian theory, and Wilson (2004a), who inter-
prets her research through Goffman's concept of front stage and back
stage processes, almost all of the cases are short on theory.
Nevertheless, these studies provide a respectable initial framework to
understand the subject of prison tourism. Most researchers have
performed their due diligence with respect to their literature reviews,
field work, and interviews with former and current personnel and, in
some cases, tourists. What is clearly missing, however, is a broad, gener-
alized overview. No database exists that systematically lists all the prison
museums and includes relevant data on the operation of these institu-
tions. This research project is an attempt to fill this void. It seeks to reme-
dy this by presenting the results of an analysis of a specially created
database on prison museums worldwide. The hope is that this database
will lead to more theory development in this area, including the building
of an interpretive framework and/or a typology of the prison museums.
3 . Method
In addition to visiting numerous currently operating correctional
facilities as part of my professional development, in order to better
understand prison museums, I selected three of them for intense
analysis (i.e., Alcatraz, the Clink, and Eastern State Penitentiary). 2
2
This was a sample of convenience.
I conducted visits to these locations, toured the facilities, and
interviewed their directors. 3 Not only was I concerned with the actual
prison and the experience, but I also wanted to learn about each site's
built environment. This field work was conducted between 2005 and
2009.
During the course of my research, I uncovered a listing of correctional
facility museums compiled on the Eastern State Penitentiary website. The
links were organized under the title “Other Prison Museums” (www.
easternstate.org/links/prison-museum.php).4 Approximately 100 mu-
seums were listed on this page. Although this exact page no longer exists,
and not all of the sites listed qualified as a jail, prison, or correctional facil-
ity, most of the museums did. (The exceptions included police museums,
prisoner of war camps, concentration camps, and general crime and pun-
ishment museums e.g., the Crime Museum in Washington, D.C.). 5
In the fall of 2009, a graduate student research assistant, under my
guidance, visited this webpage, and examined the web pages of each cor-
rectional institution museum that was listed on the Eastern Penitentiary
website. (One should keep in mind, however, that not all existing prison
museum locations were included on Eastern State's website).6 Also, al-
though phone calls, site visits, face to face interviews with museum
staff, directors, and visitors would garner information that is more reli-
able, important insights can be garnered from information available on
the World Wide Web. If the information on a particular webpage could
not be found, the research assistant sent an e-mail to either the web ad-
ministrator or the most senior person listed on the website. Similarly, if
any site looked potentially questionable (i.e., the research assistant was
not certain it fit the previously outlined criteria of being a prison muse-
um), the research assistant consulted the principal investigator and sent
an e-mail to the contact person listed on the website for further informa-
tion. If e-mail communications did not result in a response, then the re-
search assistant attempted to call the museum.
The research assistant coded the facilities based on the following
variables 7:
1. Name of correctional facility;
2. Country where museum is located;
3. State/province where museum is located;
4. City where museum is located;
5. Maximum number of inmates incarcerated in the facility when at
full capacity;
6. Level of security;
7. Year opened as a correctional facility;
8. Number of years in operation as a correctional facility;
9. Year when opened as a museum;
10. Most recent number of reported visitors;
11. Cost of admission in USD 8;
12. Museum website;
13. Presence of a gift shop.
3
All interviews were done face-to-face, using open ended, pre prepared questions.
Follow-up questions were sent via e-mail. The interviews were transcribed by the
researcher and sent back to the “sources” to double check the accuracy of the information.
4
Although this exact web page no longer exists and has been replaced by http://
www.easternstate.org/learn/research-library/prison-museums (downloaded July 11,
2011), the information appears to be relatively the same.
5
This process would be easier if an association like the International Organization of
Prison Museums existed and I could simply survey their membership, but as of this
writing an association like this does not exist.
6
Examples include but are not limited to the following facilities: the Tennessee State
Prison; Eddyville in Kentucky; Angola Prison Cemetery in Louisiana; The Asylum in New
York; the Museum of Colorado Prisons in Canon City; the Prison Museum in Huntsville, Lou-
isiana; the State Penitentiary Museum in Angola, Louisiana; the Sing Sing Museum in Ossi-
ning, New York; the Old Montana Territorial Museum in Deer Lodge; the San Quentin Prison
Museum in California; and the Folsom Prison Museum in California.
7
These variables were identified because they made intuitive sense to the research-
er and were not necessarily guided by a particular theoretical framework.
8
Although information on this variable was collected, it was not coded as there was con-
siderable variability (e.g., criteria of what constitutes a child and the times of the week when
the rates changed), and a belief by the researcher that this information would have only
minimal utility for the purposes of this current research.
 J.I. Ross / Tourism Management Perspectives 4 (2012) 113–118 115

Table 1 United States have prison museums, which comes to an average of

Country where prison museum is located. 2.59 prison museums per state in the states that have them. California,
Frequency Percentages Colorado, and Texas account for the largest number of prison
museums (13 total/22.81%). At least in the case of California and
Australia 7 7.40
Barbados 1 1.05 Texas, this statistic is not surprising as these are the states with
Canada 3 3.20 the greatest prison populations (Guerino, Harrison, & Sabol, 2011)
Cost Rica 1 1.05 (see Table 2).
Eire (Republic of Ireland) 1 1.05
Finland 1 1.05
Germany 1 1.05 3.3 . Maximum number of inmates incarcerated in the facility when at
Grenada 2 2.10 full capacity
India 1 1.05
Japan 1 1.05
Kenya 1 1.05
One question which arose during the course of the research
Russia 1 1.05 was this: Is there any correspondence between the facilities with
South Africa 1 1.05 high numbers of prisoners and late conversions into prison museums?
Thailand 1 1.05 Although the maximum capacity statistics are not available on all
The Netherlands 2 2.10
of the prisons, 37 facilities reported between 1 and 5000 inmates at
United Kingdom 12 12.60
USA 57 60.00 full capacity. This accounts for 38.95% of the total prison museums.
Total 95 100.00 Nine of the facilities (9.47%) had less than 100 inmates (see Table 3).

Table 2 3.4 . Level of security

State where prison museum is located.

Frequency Percentages
In most cases (80%), both the research assistant and principal
investigator were unable to determine the level of security of the faci-
Arizona 1 1.75
lity (see Table 4). The remaining sites (where this data was retrieved)
California 5 8.77
Colorado 4 7.01 were equally divided among minimum (3 total/3.15%), medium
Connecticut 2 3.51 (3 total/3.15%) and maximum security (4 total/4.21%) prisons. Per-
Delaware 1 1.75 haps because of their relative newness, no Supermax facilities are
Florida 2 3.51
represented.
Georgia 2 3.51
Hawaii 1 1.75
Idaho 1 1.75 3.5 . Year facility opened as a correctional facility
Illinois 2 3.51
Indiana 3 5.26
The earliest facility that has been converted into a prison museum
Iowa 2 3.51
Louisiana 1 1.75 was opened in 860 (i.e., Clink Prison). The majority (63) of the prisons
Maine 2 3.51 were established during the 19th century with 25 (36.76%) opening
Michigan 1 1.75 between 1801 and 1850; 38 (40%) were built between 1851 and
Missouri 1 1.75
1900. These statistics were followed by facilities of unknown date
Montana 1 1.75
New Jersey 3 5.26
(11 total/11.6%), and 9 (9.47%) opened between 1901 and 1950 (see
New York 3 5.26 Table 5).
Ohio 1 1.75
Pennsylvania 2 3.51
3.6 . Number of years museum operated as a correctional institution
Texas 4 7.01
Total 57 100.00
In order to determine the number of years a jail or prison had operated
as a correctional facility, the year the institution was closed was
subtracted from the date it was opened. Most institutions were in
4 . Findings 9

Data from ten of the above listed variables are reported below. Table 3
Maximum number of inmates incarcerated in the facility when at full capacity.

3.1 . Country where prison museum is located Frequency Percentages

1–1000 22 23.16
Seventeen countries operate prison museums. Most of them are 1001–2000 6 6.32
located in advanced industrialized countries (e.g., Canada, Germany, 2001–3000 3 3.16
Japan, Russia, United Kingdom). The majority of prison museums (57) 3001–4000 3 3.16
4001–5000 1 1.05
are located in the United States (60%) with the United Kingdom trailing
5001–6000 2 2.10
at 12 museums (12.60%). These two countries have historically had 6001–7000 0 0
relatively high prison populations (see Table 1). 7001–8000 0 0
8001–9000 0 0
9001–10,000 0 0
3.2 . State/province where prison museum is located
10,001–11,000 1 1.05
11,001–12,000 0 0
Given that the majority of the prison museums are located in the 12,001–13,000 0 0
United States, it was prudent to look specifically at this subcomponent 13,001–14,000 1 1.05
of the data. On closer examination, only 22 of the 50 states in the 14,001–15,000 1 1.05
15,001–33,000 1 1.05
Unknown 54 61.05
9 Total 95 100.00
Not all data collected are reported in table form.
116 J.I. Ross / Tourism Management Perspectives 4 (2012) 113–118

Table 4 Table 6
Level of security. Number of years operating as a correctional facility.

Frequency Percentages Frequency Percentages

Minimum 3 3.15 1–50 18 18.95

Medium 3 3.15 51–100 24 25.26
Maximum 4 4.21 101–150 21 22.10
High Security 1 1.05 151–200 3 3.15
Comprehensive 4 4.21 201–250 2 2.1
Unknown 80 84.21 251–300 0 0
Total 95 100.00 301–350 0 0
351–400 0 0
401–450 1 1.05
451–500 1 1.05
501–550 0 0
operation an average of 118 years with a low of 3 years and a high of 551–600 0 0
920 years. In general, most facilities were not open for more than 601–650 0 0
150 years. These data broke down into the following groups: 651–700 0 0
701–750 0 0
1–50 years (11 total/18.95%); 51–100 (24 total/25.26%) and 101–51 (21
751–800 0 0
total/22.10%) (see Table 6). 801–850 1 1.05
851–900 0 0
901–950 1 1.05
3.7 . Year facility opened as a prison museum 951–1000 0 0
Unknown 22 23.16
Total 95 100.00
Most of the institutions (50 total/52.63%) were opened as prison mu-
seums between 1961 and 2010. Between 1961 and 1970, 6 museums
(6.32%) were opened, and between 1971 and 1980, 14 were opened
(14.74%) (see Table 7). 3.10 . Presence of a gift shop?

56 (59.00%) of the museums had a gift shop, while 3 (3.16%) did

3.8 . Number of annual visitors not have this kind of amenity. In most cases (36 museums/37.89%),
it was not possible to determine if there was a gift shop.
In 76% of the cases, the research assistant was unable to determine the
annual number of visitors. Where data was available, approximately 10% 5 . Discussion
of the prison museums had between 10,001 and 30,000 visitors per year
(see Table 8). On balance, most countries do not have prison museums. Those
that exist are typically located in advanced industrialized democracies
with the United States having the greatest concentration. Of the states
3.9 . Does the museum have a website? that do have jail and prison museums, California, Colorado, and Texas
contain the majority of the facilities. Although one of the museums
With the exception of four museums, all of them had websites. covered by the database dates back to 1099, the bulk of the prison
museums were operational over the past 150 years and have been
converted into prison museums in the post-1960s era.
Table 5 As efforts to gather information moved from holistic data to greater
Year facility opened as a correctional facility. levels of detail (i.e., the specifics of the individual facilities), the gaps in
the available information became greater. This is understandable.
Frequency Percentages
Most prison museums are nonprofit entities, and responding to inqui-
800–850 0 0 ries from researchers is not a priority. Thus, the information contained
851–900 1 1.05
901–950 0 0
951–1000 0 0
1001–1050 0 0 Table 7
1051–1100 0 0 Year facility opened as a prison museum.
1101–1150 0 0
Frequency Percentages
1151–1200 1 1.05
1201–1250 0 0 1851–1860 1 1.05
1251–1300 0 0 1861–1870 0 0
1301–1350 1 1.05 1871–1880 0 0
1351–1400 0 0 1881–1890 0 0
1401–1450 0 0 1891–1900 1 1.05
1451–1500 0 0 1901–1910 1 1.05
1501–1550 0 0 1911–1920 0 0
1551–1600 0 0 1921–1930 1 2.10
1601–1650 0 0 1931–1940 2 2.10
1651–1700 1 1.05 1941–1950 0 0
1701–1750 3 3.16 1951–1960 2 2.10
1751–1800 5 5.26 1961–1970 6 6.32
1801–1850 25 36.76 1971–1980 14 14.74
1851–1900 38 40.00 1981–1990 9 9.47
1901–1950 9 9.47 1991–2000 14 14.74
1951–2000 0 0 2001–2010 7 7.37
Unknown 11 11.6 Unknown 33 34.74
Total 95 100.00 Total 95 100.00
 J.I. Ross / Tourism Management Perspectives 4 (2012) 113–118 117

Table 8 tourists learn anything new and valuable, or do these visits simply
Number of annual visitors. reinforce existing attitudes, behaviors, and misrepresentations to-
Frequency Percentages ward corrections? These kinds of questions may be answered in future
0–10,000 0 0
studies.
10,001–25,000 5 5.26 Since the original collection of the data, new prison museums have
25,001–50,000 5 5.26 been opened, and an additional data source has been developed. As of
50,001–75,000 0 0 this writing, Wikipedia has published a page titled “List of jail and pris-
75,001–100,000 2 2.10
on museums.”10 Follow-up research should incorporate any additional
100,001–125,000 0 0
125,001–150,000 3 3.16 facilities listed on this page that are not included in the original data
150,001–175,000 1 1.05 set. Also, future iterations of this study could include either a web-
175,001–200,000 0 0 based or paper survey that prison museum administrators would be en-
200,001–225,000 2 2.10 couraged to complete. This next step may yield more detailed informa-
225,001–250,000 0 0
tion than this first pass. As many of these prison museums function on
250,001–275,000 0 0
275,001–300,000 0 0 shoe string budgets and depend on volunteers, one must keep in
300,001–325,000 1 1.05 mind the possibility that compliance levels and/or return rates may be
Unknown 76 80.00 relatively low. In sum, the fact that the United States has the greatest
Total 95 100.00
number of prisons and prison museums reinforces both the reality
and the perception of this country being one of the most punitive na-
tions in the world.
in this database should be interpreted as a beginning and not an end
in itself. Indeed, there are limitations to using both the Eastern State
Penitentiary webpage, relying on the World Wide Web and e-mail Acknowledgements
correspondence to retrieve data, but some basic and helpful informa-
tion can be collected in this manner. Special thanks to Christy DeHenzel for research assistance,
Mengyan Dai for data analysis, Rachel Hildebrandt and Yaniv Poria
6 . Conclusion for comments. The researcher also thanks the College of Public Affairs,
University of Baltimore, for a summer research grant to complete this
Although this study provides a foundation for future research, nu- article.
merous questions still need to be asked. The database could provide
greater detail by including additional information about the prison
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Stone, P. R. (2006). A dark tourism spectrum: Towards a typology of death and macabre Jeffrey Ian Ross, Ph.D. is a Professor in the School of Criminal
related tourist sites, attractions and exhibitions. Tourism: An International Journal, Justice, College of Public Affairs, and a Research Fellow of the
54(2), 145–160. Center for International and Comparative Law at the Univer-
Stone, P. R., & Sharpley, R. (2008). Consuming dark tourism: A thanatological perspective. sity of Baltimore.
Annals of Tourism Research, 35(2), 574–595. He has researched, written, and lectured primarily on correc-
Strange, S., & Kempa, M. (2003). Shades of dark tourism at Alcatraz and Robben Island. tions, policing, political crime, violence, and crime and justice
Annals of Tourism Research, 30(2), 386–405. in American Indian communities for over two decades. He is
Wilson, J. Z. (2004a). Representing Pentridge: The loss of narrative diversity in the populist the author, co-author, editor, or co-editor of seventeen books.
interpretation of a former total institution. Australian Historical Studies, 37(125), From 1995–1998, Ross was a Social Science Analyst with
113–133. the National Institute of Justice, a Division of the U.S. De-
Wilson, J. Z. (2004b). Dark tourism and the celebrity prisoner: Front and back regions partment of Justice. In 2003, he was awarded the University
in representations of an Australian historical prison. Journal of Australian Studies, of Baltimore's Distinguished Chair in Research Award. Dur-
82, 1–13 (171–173). ing the early 1980s, Jeff worked almost four years in a cor-
Wilson, J. Z. (2008). Prison: Cultural memory and dark tourism. New York: Peter Lang. rectional institution.
Young, D. (1996). Making crime pay: The evolution of convict tourism in Tasmania.
Hobart: Tasmanian Historical Research Association.