“Reformed” will open tomorrow to coincide with this month’s Gallery Walk.
Gallery406 is one of the galleries associated with the Downtown Gallery Walk in Bloomington. Alongside 10 other galleries, gallery406 will open its doors this Friday for the October Gallery Walk.
“Reformed” will be the featured exhibit, according to the gallery’s website.
The Reformatory opened in 1896 to its first 150 inmates, who arrived from Columbus by train.
Levi T. Scott, the architect, was inspired by old German castles and designed the Reformatory with the hopes that the institution would offer a spiritual uplift to the boys who were sent there, according to the gallery.
The exterior of the building, built from brick and concrete, is designed in the Romanesque style. This gives the building a castle-like appearance.
It was closed in 1990 because of a class action suit citing overcrowding and inhumane conditions.
It was ordered that the prison be closed by the end of December 1986. Eventually, the date was moved to 1990 because of construction delays in the replacement facility, according to the gallery’s website.
The Reformatory, built in 1886, was featured in “The Shawshank Redemption” just four years after its closing at the end of 1990, according to the Reformatory’s website.
Today, it is claimed that it’s haunted.
There are rumors of “restless energy” that have filled the Reformatory’s halls since its closure, according to the gallery. This supposed energy comes from the spirits of tortured inmates who died in the prison.
Audrey Perkins
