Museums have been created from many former jails and prisons.
Some old jails converted into museums are listed under the original name of the jail, especially if listed on the US National Register of Historic Places. For example, see Old St. Johns County Jail in St Augustine, Florida.
Museums with a main purpose not associated with the jail or prison in which they are located are listed separately, below the main list.
To use the sortable table, click on the icons at the top of each column to sort that column in alphabetical order; click again for reverse alphabetical order.
| Name | Location | State/Province | Country | Jail/ Prison |
Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1811 Lincoln County Museum & Old Jail | Wiscasset | Maine | United States | Jail | ||
| Louisiana State Penitentiary | Angola | Louisiana | United States | Prison | http://angolamuseum.org/ | |
| Alcatraz Island | San Francisco Bay Area | California | United States | Prison | ||
| Beaumaris Gaol | Beaumaris | Anglesey, Wales | United Kingdom | Jail | ||
| Buckingham Old Gaol | Buckingham | Buckinghamshire | United Kingdom | Jail | Museum of Buckingham and rural life as well as the building as a prison | |
| Burlington County Prison | Mount Holly | New Jersey | United States | Prison | ||
| Carthage Jail | Carthage | Illinois | United States | Jail | location of the death of Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of Mormonism | |
| Clink, The | London | London Borough of Southwark | United Kingdom | Prison | ||
| Crumlin Road (HM Prison) | Belfast | Northern Ireland | United Kingdom | Prison | ||
| Daviess County Rotary Jail and Sheriff's Residence | Gallatin | Missouri | United States | Jail | Rotary Jail | |
| Eastern State Penitentiary | Philadelphia | Pennsylvania | United States | Prison | ||
| Eden Camp Museum | Malton | North Yorkshire | United Kingdom | Prison | ||
| Galleries of Justice | Nottingham | Nottinghamshire | United Kingdom | Jail and Prison | ||
| Hexham Old Gaol | Hexham | Northumberland | United Kingdom | Prison | ||
| Jail Museum (Truckee, California) | Truckee | California | United States | Jail | ||
| Kansas Regional Prisons Museum | Lansing | Kansas | United States | 1887 Santa Fe Railroad Depot on Lansing Correctional Facility property | The Lansing Historical Museum is home to hundreds of artifacts and documents relating to the Kansas State Penitentiary/Lansing Correctional Facility. |
|
| Kilmainham Gaol | Dublin | Dublin Region | Ireland | Prison | ||
| Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery | Beloozero | Vologda Oblast | Russia | Prison | ||
| Kosciusko County Jail Museum | Warsaw | Indiana | United States | Jail | ||
| Liberty Jail | Liberty | Missouri | United States | Jail | Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of Mormonism and associates were imprisoned there in 1838-1839 during the 1838 Mormon War. | |
| Lubyanka (KGB) | Moscow | Russia | Prison | On Lubyanka Square | ||
| Ludwigsburg Prison Museum | Ludwigsburg | Baden-Württemberg | Germany | Prison | ||
| Mills County Old Jail Museum | Goldwaite | Texas | United States | Jail | ||
| Montgomery County Jail and Sheriff's Residence | Crawfordsville | Indiana | United States | Jail | Rotary Jail | |
| Moore County Old Jail Museum | Lynchburg | Tennessee | United States | Jail | ||
| Nationaal Gevangenis Museum | Veenhuizen | Drenthe | Netherlands | National Dutch prison museum | ||
| Museo de Tradiciones y Leyendas | León | León Department | Nicaragua | Jail | ||
| Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec | Quebec City | Quebec | Canada | Prison | Mostly an art museum | |
| Norwegian POW Museum | Ostrzeszów | Greater Poland Voivodeship also known as Wielkopolska Province |
Poland | Prison | World War II POW camp | |
| Ohio State Reformatory | Mansfield | Ohio | United States | Prison | ||
| Hamilton County Historical Museum in the Old Hamilton County Jail |
Jasper | Florida | United States | Jail | Web page | |
| Old County Jail and Museum (Tolland, Connecticut) | Tolland | Connecticut | United States | Jail | ||
| Old City Jail (Mount Dora, Florida) | Mount Dora | Florida | United States | Jail | Currently houses the Royellou Museum. | |
| Old Idaho State Penitentiary | Boise | Idaho | United States | Prison | ||
| Olde Gaol Museum | Lindsay | Ontario | Canada | Jail | Website | |
| Old Jail Museum (Albion, Indiana) | Albion | Indiana | United States | Jail | ||
| Old Jail Museum (Allegan, Michigan) | Allegan | Michigan | United States | Jail | ||
| Old Jail Museum (Barnesville, Georgia) | Barnesville | Georgia | United States | Jail | ||
| Old Jail Museum (Canton, Mississippi) | Canton | Mississippi | United States | Jail | ||
| Old Jail Museum (Crawfordsville, Indiana) | Crawfordsville | Indiana | United States | Jail | ||
| Old Jail Museum (Dubuque, Indiana) in the former Dubuque County Jail | Dubuque | Iowa | United States | Jail | ||
| Old Jail Museum (Gonzales, Texas) | Gonzales | Texas | United States | Jail | ||
| Old Jail Museum (Goochland, Virginia) | Goochland | Virginia | United States | Jail | ||
| Old Jail Museum (Greenwood, Arkansas) | Greenwood | Arkansas | United States | Jail | ||
| Old Jail Museum (Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania) | Jim Thorpe | Pennsylvania | United States | Jail | ||
| Old Jail Museum (Iola, Kansas) | Iola | Kansas | United States | Jail | information | |
| Old Jail Museum (Knoxville, Georgia) | Knoxville | Georgia | United States | Jail | ||
| Old Jail Museum (Lawrenceburg, Tennessee) | Lawrenceburg | Tennessee | United States | Jail | ||
| Old Jail Museum (Taylorsville, North Carolina) | Taylorsville | North Carolina | United States | Jail | ||
| Old Wilkes Jail (Wilkesboro, North Carolina) | Wilkesboro | North Carolina | United States | Jail | Tom Dooley of the song "Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley" was held here before his trial. | |
| Old Jail Museum (Thompson Falls, Montana) | Thompson | Montana | United States | Jail | ||
| Old Jail Museum (Smethport, Pennsylvania) | Smethport | Pennsylvania | United States | Jail | ||
| Old Jail Museum (Silverton, Texas) | Silverton | Texas | United States | Jail | ||
| Old Jail Museum (St. Augustine, Florida) in the Old St. Johns County Jail | St. Augustine | Florida | United States | Jail | ||
| Old Jail Museum (Valparaiso, Indiana) | Valparaiso | Indiana | United States | Jail | ||
| Old Jail Museum (Warrenton, Virginia) | Warrenton | Virginia | United States | Jail | ||
| Old Jail Museum (Winchester, Tennessee) | Winchester | Tennessee | United States | Jail | ||
| Old Newgate Prison | East Granby | Connecticut | United States | Prison | Former mine/Colonial prison; also spelled "Old New-Gate Prison" | |
| Old Prison Museum (Deer Lodge, Montana) | Deer Lodge | Montana | United States | Prison | ||
| Patarei Prison | Tallinn | Harju County | Estonia | Prison | Official webpage | |
| Peter and Paul Fortress | St. Petersburg | St. Petersburg | Russia | Prison | ||
| Pied-du-Courant Prison | Montreal | Quebec | Canada | Prison | ||
| Pottawattamie County Jail | Council Bluffs | Iowa | United States | Jail | Rotary Jail | |
| Richard III Museum | York | North Yorkshire | United Kingdom | Prison | Primarily about Richard III, the museum also has a working portcullis, a medieval execution chamber, and a small prison cell | |
| Robben Island Museum | Robben Island | Western Cape | South Africa | Prison | ||
| Sabine County Jail Museum and Vergie Speights Memorial Library | Hemphill | Texas | United States | Jail | ||
| Solovetsky Monastery | Solovetsky Islands | Russia | ||||
| Texas Prison Museum | Hunsville | Texas | United States | Prison | ||
| Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum | Phnom Penh | Cambodia | Prison | |||
| Wilson County Jailhouse Museum | Floresville | Texas | United States | Jail | ||
| Yuma Territorial Prison | Yuma | Arizona | United States | Prison | ||
| Old Melbourne Jail | Melbourne, Australia | Victoria | Australia | Prison | ||
| Towhid Prison(Ebrat Museum) | Tehran | Tehran | Iran | Prison | ||
| Fremantle Prison | Fremantle, Western Australia | Western Australia | Australia | Prison | ||
| Hong Kong Correctional Services Museum | Southern District | Stanley | Hong Kong | Museum at Stanley Prison | Official webpage The museum comprises ten galleries with one mock gallows and two mock cells. |
Ulucanlar prison in Ankara, Turkey.Nowadays, it used as exhibition hall and museum.
Famous quotes containing the words list of, list, jail, prison and/or museums:
“Shea—they call him Scholar Jack—
Went down the list of the dead.
Officers, seamen, gunners, marines,
The crews of the gig and yawl,
The bearded man and the lad in his teens,
Carpenters, coal-passers—all.”
—Joseph I. C. Clarke (1846–1925)
“A man’s interest in a single bluebird is worth more than a complete but dry list of the fauna and flora of a town.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“To long for that which comes not. To lie a-bed and sleep not. To serve well and please not. To have a horse that goes not. To have a man obeys not. To lie in jail and hope not. To be sick and recover not. To lose one’s way and know not. To wait at door and enter not, and to have a friend we trust not: are ten such spites as hell hath not.”
—John Florio (c. 1553–1625)
“The most anxious man in a prison is the governor.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“Museums are just a lot of lies, and the people who make art their business are mostly imposters.... We have infected the pictures in museums with all our stupidities, all our mistakes, all our poverty of spirit. We have turned them into petty and ridiculous things.”
—Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)