Libby Prison was a Confederate prison at Richmond, Virginia, during the American Civil War. It gained an infamous reputation for the overcrowded and harsh conditions under which officer prisoners from the Union Army were kept. Prisoners suffered from disease, malnutrition and a high mortality rate. By 1863, one thousand prisoners were crowded into large open rooms on two floors, with open, barred windows leaving them exposed to weather and temperature extremes.
Used before and after the war for commercial purposes, the structure was moved to Chicago in 1889 to serve as a war museum, before being finally dismantled in 1895, with its pieces sold as souvenirs.
Read more about Libby Prison: Overview, Prisoner Conditions, The Libby Chronicle, Escape From Libby, Letters From Libby
Famous quotes containing the word prison:
“People have passed through a very dark tunnel at the end of which there was a light of freedom. Unexpectedly they passed through the prison gates and found themselves in a square. They are now free and they don’t know where to go.”
—Václav Havel (b. 1936)