Oregon State Penitentiary - Salem, Oregon - Wikipedia Entries on Waymarking.com

Per the Oregon Department of Corrections website:

"Oregon State Penitentiary (OSP), Oregon´s first state prison, was originally located in Oregon City in 1842. In 1866 it was moved to a 26-acre site in Salem and enclosed by a reinforced concrete wall averaging 25 feet in height. OSP is the state´s only maximum security prison. The penitentiary currently has special housing units for maximum custody inmates; disciplinary segregation; offenders with psychiatric problems; and inmates sentenced to death. Executions, which are by lethal injection in Oregon, are conducted at the penitentiary. The 196-bed, self-contained Intensive Management Unit provides housing and control for those death row and male inmates who disrupt or pose a substantial threat to the general population in all department facilities. Most housing in the penitentiary is in large cell blocks with most inmates housed in double cells. The penitentiary also has a full service infirmary."

The American Guide Series publication "Oregon: End of the Trail" provides some interesting history as well, including the role of the prison in the development of local agriculture:

"The STATE PENITENTIARY (open 9-11; 2-4; Mon., Wed., and Fri.), State and 24th Sts., a buff-colored building erected in 1866, is noted for the development here of the Oregon flax industry, an enterprise started in 1915 to furnish non-competitive labor for prison inmates. The penitentiary has the largest scutching plant in the United States and the largest single acreage of flax in the world. A lime plant grinds fertilizer that is sold to farmers of the state at cost. Most notorious of its prisoners was Harry Tracy, the bandit, who escaped in June, 1902, and spread terror throughout the Northwest until his death in a gun fight, two months later, in a Washington wheat field." -Oregon: End of the Trail, 1940, pp. 236-237

Note: I was pretty nervous about trying to take pictures of the prison. I don't know anyone there (fortunately!) and the grounds, including the driveway in, are covered with various kinds of "no trespassing," "do not enter," and various warning signs. So I apologize that the current photo gallery is quite limited. I was able to get a few long-distance photos from the hill north of the prison - the southeast side of the Oregon State Hospital grounds.

Click a photo to enlarge