It is located adjacent to Ross Correctional Institution and Hopewell Culture National Historical Park.

The prison is a former military camp, named for Civil War general William Tecumseh Sherman.

It later became a federal penitentiary and has housed several high-profile prisoners including Charles Manson in 1952,[2] bootlegger and future NASCAR driver Junior Johnson, and serial killer Anthony Sowell.

Country music legend Johnny Paycheck also served a 22-month stint in CCI for shooting a man in a Hillsboro bar.

This was done to free up cells at OSP and Mansfield to be used to separate violent inmates from the general population as well as the increased security and reduced costs of transporting condemned inmates from CCI to both the execution chamber at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility (SOCF) in Lucasville and to the Franklin Medical Center for medical treatment.