Portsmouth Naval Prison
Portsmouth Naval Prison is a former U.S. Navy and Marine Corps prison on the grounds of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNS) in Kittery, Maine. The building has the appearance of a castle. The reinforced concrete naval prison was occupied from 1908 until 1974.
Fort Sullivan and Camp Long
The island site was first used in 1775 during the Revolution when the New Hampshire militia, commanded by General John Sullivan, constructed an earthwork defense called Fort Sullivan atop the bluff. In conjunction with Fort Washington across the Piscataqua River on Peirce Island, it guarded the channel to Portsmouth. Eliphalet Daniels served as a commander in 1776.[1] The militia withdrew about three years later.
The fort was reactivated for the
"Alcatraz of the East"
When Camp Long was dismantled in 1901, the site became available for a naval prison. Constructed between 1905 and 1908, the
Two wings were eventually added to the prison—in 1942 the northeast wing, and in 1943 the unornamented southwest wing, dubbed "the Fortress," which rises sheer beside the rocky shore. Maximum occupancy reached 3,088 in 1945.[3] In the decade before the United States' entry into World War II, around 40% of all new prisoners arriving at Portsmouth were there on charges related to sodomy or other similar crimes of a sexual nature not relating to women. The overabundance of prisoners convicted of homosexual activity at Portsmouth contributed to changes in policy towards homosexual sailors during World War II.[5]
After the German surrender ended
There was inadequate preparation to deal with the arriving U-boats. United States Navy
Cold War
The brig was used throughout the
In popular culture
In the 1973 movie The Last Detail, seaman Larry Meadows (Randy Quaid) is escorted by petty officers Billy "Badass" Buddusky (Jack Nicholson) and Mule Mulhall (Otis Young) to the Portsmouth Naval Prison. Meadows has been sentenced to eight years' confinement for trying to steal $40 from a charity box. But because of his harsh sentence, the guards feel sorry for Meadows. They decide to show the naive sailor the time of his life before arriving on Seavey's Island (where another location substitutes for the actual brig).
In W. E. B. Griffin's novel Semper Fi, Corporal Kenneth "Killer" McCoy is assigned to transport prisoners from San Diego to the Portsmouth Naval Prison.
In an episode of the WWII flying drama TV series Baa Baa Black Sheep entitled The 200 Pound Gorilla, the character of Master Gunnery Sergeant Andrew "Andy" Micklin played by Red West is promoted to Warrant Officer. In order to show his opposition to the promotion, he fights with all of the officers and is thrown in the brig, a Marine Corps jail. He thinks he will just be demoted. But, in fact, they start talking about the fact that he will be "sent to Portsmouth."
The prison is referred to in Stephen King's 1982 novella The Body, later filmed as Stand by Me.
The prison and shipyard locations were used to depict a Russian shipyard in the 1978 television film The Defection of Simas Kudirka starring Alan Arkin.[10]
Protagonist character Joker refers to the shipyard in the 1979 novel The Short-Timers, which was later adapted as the 1987 film Full Metal Jacket, but without the reference.
Disuse
The building was previously one of 14 structures the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard had considered for outleasing and renovation. Local developer Joseph Sawtelle estimated the cost to renovate the immense edifice into civilian office space, including removing lead paint and asbestos, would cost more than $10 million. But plans to adapt the prison were halted a month after Sawtelle's death in 2000, and abandoned altogether after military base security was tightened following the September 11 attacks.[11]
Notes
Citations
- ^ "History of Fort Sullivan". American Forts Network. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
- ^ Fort Sullivan (Kittery, Maine) at American Forts Network
- ^ a b "History of Fort Sullivan". Archived from the original on 17 December 2004. Retrieved 8 September 2006.
- ^ a b "In a Prison Cell I Sat: Jail Angel Aids Nelson to Reform." The Boston Daily Record. January 3, 1933.
- ^ Bérubé, Allan. Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War II. The Free Press, 1990. pp.131
- ^ Blair pp.692&693
- ^ Paterson pp.55–57&60
- ^ Blair pp.689&694
- ^ "Report of the Naval Inspector General Regarding Irregularities Connected with the Handling of Surrendered German Submarines". U-boat Archive. Archived from the original on 16 May 2012. Retrieved 5 October 2012.
- ^ "The Defection of Simas Kudirka". IMDb.
- ^ Historical Market Database: "Portsmouth Navy Yard"
Bibliography
- Blair, Clay (1998). Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunted 1942–1945. Random House. ISBN 0-679-45742-9.
- Paterson, Lawrence (2009). Black Flag: The Surrender of Germany's U-Boat Forces. MBI Publishing. ISBN 978-0760337547.