The facility was built at Lynde's Point, now at the intersection of Austin Street and New Rutherford Avenue, and in proximity to the Boston and Maine Railroad tracks that intersected with the Eastern Freight Railroad tracks.

[2] In 1803 the Massachusetts General Court passed an act approving the construction of a prison.

[2] Governor of Massachusetts George D. Robinson signed a bill ordering prisoners to be moved back to Charlestown on May 21, 1884.

During the same year "Chicken" Walsh, another prisoner, made an unsuccessful attempt to escape.

[7] By 1903, of the prisoners at Charlestown, 75 were in life imprisonment, 54 had varying terms, and 863 were held under minimum and maximum sentence forms.