Fairfax County General :
Fairfax Underground
Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
does anyone know how big Lorton Jail was. Is it true south country SS school was part of the jail? I knew it was part of DC Jail but I never knew how big it was? If everyone lived here when it was open tell us how big it was?
Lorton prison was over 1000 acres along the ocoquan river. It was run by D.C. dept of corrections. At one time it was self sufficiant they farmed veggies and had livestock. all the food for the prison was grown and slaughtered right there.The ACLU screwed that up.At the end it was a very poorly run prison, always in the news. The inmates were shipped off to prisons as far away as Texas most of them went to other prisons in Va. and Ohio, Light and med security went to the d.c. jail.And yes South County SS is on prison property, most of the new housing developments are also on old prison property, so is the golf course.
Circa 1986, very expensive, large housing communities began to be developed about two miles from the prison. The builders lobbied to have the future neighborhoods of Triple Ridge and South Run to have a Fairfax Station mailing address, even though these houses were smack dab in Lorton. The builders did not want the prison stigma to be at all associated with the developments.
New residents became accustomed to police helicopters flying over to track escaped prisoners and we all had the Lorton Penitentiary Hotline posted by our phones to learn of prison breaks...there were updated recordings with the convict/s description, etc.
Soon we learned to relax because the inmates would invariably be caught hitching a ride near the 95 exit or would be caught back in DC. No way were these inmates going into the suburbs.
When was the actual year it was decided the lease wouldn't be renewed and the prison would definitely be shutting down? I'm curious which neighborhoods were built "knowing" it would be gone vs. "hoping" it would soon be gone.
And now some genius in FFX CO Government had decided that 20 foot prison walls and turrets are "historic" and worthly of historic preservation so they cannot be altered. Are you kidding me? Just because something is "Old" doesn't mean it's historic and worthly of preservation. It's a prision for crying out loud. It's an eye sore and should be torn down.
South County school is a completely new building. The area was a part of the prison, but not the building.
And I still think South County is a stupid name. It isn't in South County, it's in Fairfax County. Maybe we should build a North County school and an East and West County school too.
I'm actually working on a TV special about this very topic. the original property actually stretched from silver Brook all the way to 123 near the water treatment facility. The property is being used for a variety of facilities ranging from art studios, athletic fields, a senior living facility, a high school, a ball golf course and an amazing disc golf course.
If you want to see the old jail facility its still standing and you can get to it on Lorton Road and take a right at the sign that says Giles Run Laurel Hill. if you like mountain biking there's also 50 miles of really nice biking trails.
Was so happy when they shut that nightmare down! Glad to see an end to VA allowing DC's criminals to be housed in our state. Made no sense in the first place. 100% black by the way. I went there on a field trip back in high school and we walked around. That place was a hell.
Graduated from West Springfield HS in 1993. We used to drive into the woods next to the prison. There is a large pond separating the prison and a open field. Spent many nights there drinking beers with high school buddies, listening to Pearl Jam and Nirvana. Memories...
snowdenscold Wrote:
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> When was the actual year it was decided the lease
> wouldn't be renewed and the prison would
> definitely be shutting down? I'm curious which
> neighborhoods were built "knowing" it would be
> gone vs. "hoping" it would soon be gone.
It was after 1995 when the control board took over DC's budget after asshats elected Barry back into office. The feds took over responsibility for housing silverback crimey's and dispersing them across the nation. Then the facility was retroverted back to FFX county.
Now called Laurel Hill, redevelopment of the penitentiary complex into housing and retail complexes will begin later this year. Low income housing units will comprise the majority of the housing on the site. History and development plans can be found here:
Now called Laurel Hill, redevelopment of the penitentiary complex into housing and retail complexes will begin later this year. Low income housing units will comprise the majority of the housing on the site. History and development plans can be found here:
snowdenscold Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> When was the actual year it was decided the lease
> wouldn't be renewed and the prison would
> definitely be shutting down? I'm curious which
> neighborhoods were built "knowing" it would be
> gone vs. "hoping" it would soon be gone.
About 1996. A gangster from DC named Rayful Edmonds was an inmate and actually increased his cocaine sales while inside. Congress got fed up with the corruption at Lorton Federal Reformatory. I lived on Mill St. in Occoquan during the 70s and 80s. There weren't many escapes contrary to rumor. No "hotlines" for sure. 99% of the escapees went straight back to DC. One case in 1983 the Dept of Corrections was waiting in his mom's house when he showed up.