[2] The Penitentiary's design is similar to the facility at the 1858 state prison in Joliet, Illinois, with its castellated Gothic, stone structure, complete with turrets and battlements, except it is scaled down to half the size.

[2] It lies at the western side of the complex along Jefferson Avenue and is considered the front, as this is where the main entrance is located.

From 1863 to 1866, Governor Arthur I. Boreman lobbied the West Virginia Legislature for a state penitentiary but was repeatedly denied.

[3] Moundsville proved an attractive site, as it is approximately twelve miles south of Wheeling, West Virginia, which was the state capital at the time.

[2] Conditions at the prison during the turn of the 20th century were good, according to a warden's report, which stated that, "both the quantity and the quality of all the purchases of material, food and clothing have been very gradually, but steadily, improved, while the discipline has become more nearly perfect and the exaction of labor less stringent."

[4] One of the more infamous locations in the prison, with instances of gambling, fighting, and raping, was a recreation room known as "The Sugar Shack".

[4] The state used prison labor again to complete this phase of construction in 1959 which had been delayed by a steel shortage during World War II.

On October 8, 1929, after "snitching" on his fellow inmates, he was attacked while heading to the boiler room by three prisoners with dull shivs.

One of the escapees was Ronald Turney Williams, serving time for murdering Sergeant David Lilly of the Beckley Police Department on May 12, 1975.

[8] Williams remained at large for eighteen months, sending taunting notes to authorities and making the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List.

During that time, he murdered John Bunchek in Scottsdale, Arizona during a robbery and was connected to crimes in Colorado and Pennsylvania.

After a shootout with federal agents at the George Washington Hotel in New York City in 1981, he was apprehended and returned to West Virginia to complete several life sentences.

[8][9][10][11][12][13] At the time, Marshall County Sheriff Robert Lightner was very critical about poor police communications during the break.

Bad plumbing and insects caused rapid spreading of various diseases and with the prison holding more than 2,000 men crowding was an issue.

At around 5:30 pm, twenty inmates, known as a group called the "Avengers", stormed the mess hall where Captain Glassock and others were on duty.

Danny Lehman, the Avengers' president, was quickly agreed upon as best suited for the task of negotiating with authorities and presenting the demands to the media.

Hanging was the main method of execution until 1949 and were public viewings until June 19, 1931, with eighty-five men meeting that fate.

When the trap door beneath him was opened and his full weight settled into the noose, he was instantly decapitated.

[6] The last man executed by hanging, Bud Peterson from Logan County, was buried in the prison's cemetery because his family refused to claim his body.

[4] The fate of the prison was sealed in a 1986 ruling by the West Virginia Supreme Court which stated that confinement to the 5 x 7-foot (2.1 m) cells constituted cruel and unusual punishment.

[2][3] After the prison closed its doors as a state institution, the Moundsville Economic Development Council obtained a 25-year lease on the complex.

[18] The prison has been featured in a variety of media such as books, films, television shows, songs and video games.

Fools' Parade, starring James Stewart, Kurt Russell, and George Kennedy, was adapted into a film in 1971.

[24] The prison and its history was featured on an episode of Mysteries of the Abandoned during the TV series' 5th season which aired on the Science Channel on November 14, 2019.