Georgia State Prison – Reidsville GA

Description

Georgia State Prison was constructed as a massive federal Public Works Administration (PWA) project during the mid-1930s. It is located southwest of Reidsville and has been extensively remodeled and expanded since its opening in 1938.

The PWA supplied a loan of $1,142,000 and a grant of $358,000 for the project. Primary construction occurred between Jan. 1935 and Dec. 1936.

PWA Docket No. GA 714

“The State purchased the 7,000-acre Tattnall County farm and an additional 900 acres to be used as a building site, and with a loan and grant from the P.W.A. this up-to-date prison was constructed. The project includes the administration building, [6 dormitories], dining room, kitchen, laundry, refrigerating plant, commissary, and a group of manufacturing units. In addition there are dairy and farm buildings, a powerhouse, waterworks, and a sewage-disposal plant. The entire area is enclosed in a substantial wire fence.

Watch towers are provided at strategic points so that the entire property is under observation. The construction is reinforced concrete throughout, except the dairy and farm buildings, which are frame. The window and door guards and the cell blocks are toolproof steel. With the agricultural and manufacturing work carried on, it is anticipated that the farm will very soon become self-sustaining. It was completed in November 1937 at an approximate project cost of $1,579,118.”