The original brick plant was built in 1908 with labor supplied by residents of the village. But in 1913, the facility was purchased by the State and used as a center for the care of aged and disabled prisoners. They used the 22 acres of land and the brick plant (bricks made there were used for State structures and streets) while serving their time. During an escape attempt on September 2, 1927, prison guard Grant Weakly was shot and killed by convicts Patrick Riley and Fred Kellogg while escorting the two and two others to a dentist office. The two escapees were apprehended about one mile from New Lexington. In 1928, the center burned to the ground and was rebuilt of brick by inmates. The prison re-opened, but was closed in 1935, sending the inmates back the Ohio Pen. It re-opened once again in 1938, adding 40 more acres and a third floor. In 1970 an educational wing was added. On January 7, 1974, two inmates took three females hostage at knifepoint. After several tense hours, twenty-eight officers of the Ohio Highway Patrol raided the room, killing one inmate and injuring the other. All three woman escaped without serious injury. The prison finally closed in 1977, last housing a division of psychiatric criminology treatment center.

Soon after, the prison was purchased by Nepco for use as a gasohol refinery. The most interesting fact about the prison was the 1978 filming of the 1980 motion picture "Brubaker." The movie starred Robert Redford, Yaphet Kotto, David Keith, and Morgan Freeman, and was about a warden who took a failing prison and turned it around. If you've ever been to this prison, Brubaker is a must see film because you can actually say, "I know where that is!" Since the film used local talent, Hollywood came and left the area without any noticeable population change.

In the early 1990s, a company called Perry County Pizza occupied the newer cinder-block section of the prison. They made frozen pizza kits for school fundraisers, and used the farm to grow peppers for their kits. The company left behind various pieces of equipment and documents related to the pizza kit. It seems that they closed in a hurry and did not bother selling off their assets. For historical photos of the Junction City Prison, click here.

During our visits to the prison, we conducted crude paranormal investigations as this was no place to leave equipment unattended. We found a consistent cold spot that coincided with high EMF readings just outside the middle stairwell door on the first floor. At one point, we followed the cold spot into an office across the hallway from the stairwell door. As Jason R. was conducting an EMF sweep of the room looking for the cold spot, another OES member behind him felt a cold breeze go past and alerted everyone. Jason R. turned toward him with the EMF meter in-hand and felt the intense cold on his hand. The EMF meter spiked to the top of the scale for just a moment until the coldness moved away swiftly back toward the hallway. At that very moment a friend of the OES who was standing in the hallway suddenly froze in her position. As the rest of us were going into the hallway to chase down the cold spot, she broke down and began to cry saying that she had suddenly felt very cold and had a pins and needles feeling (like when your foot goes to sleep) across her entire body. Once she regained her composure, we decided that we had enough for the night and left the building.

On a return trip a female member of the OES who decided to stay in the car parked off to the side of the prison had a strange experience. Since she did not want to go in and we didn't want to leave her for long, we decided to just check out the main floor. After walking around for about ten minutes we returned to the car to find all of the interior lighting on and our female member ducking down in the back seat. We asked her what was going on and she stated that she saw people on the upper floors looking out at her with a light on and then she saw a couple of prisoners with a guard walking up the street toward her. That is when she turned on the lights in the car and ducked behind the seats. There were no other vehicles around and we were the only people in the building.

UPDATE: The OES has received word that the Junction City Prison has been demolished. The reasoning of the demolition is unknown, but it is sad to see such a great structure that stood for so many years go to the wrecking ball.

Thanks goes to Charles, Jeannie and Rob for taking us to the Junction City Prison on our first trip.
Some quotation from the Perry County Historical Society, History of Perry County Ohio Illustrated 1980.