Cell Block 7 Prison Museum

Museum inside a wing of the still-active state prison complex

Cell Block 7 is a working museum inside a wing of the old Michigan State Prison, which opened in Jackson in 1839 as the state's first penitentiary. The museum occupies the historic 7-Block cell range and is staffed by retired corrections officers, who lead tours and answer questions.

The exhibits cover prison construction, the daily routine of inmate life, contraband seized from cells over the years, and the major riots that broke out here in 1952 and 1981. The walk through the cell range, with original bars and stripped-down cells, is the part most visitors remember.

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A story
Michigan State Prison at Jackson was, for several decades in the mid-twentieth century, the largest walled prison in the world, with capacity for more than 6,000 men. Henry Ford supplied the looms used by the prisoners to make their own uniforms.

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