Shawshank State Prison is a fictional
New England state prison in the state of
Maine. It serves as the primary location in the novella ''
Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption'' by
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...
, as well as its subsequent
film adaptation
A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dial ...
. The prison has also been mentioned in several other works by King.
Overview
Shawshank State Prison first appeared in Stephen King's
novella
A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) facts ...
entitled ''
Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption''. The story was originally published in the 1982 short story collection ''
Different Seasons'' alongside three other novellas, two of which also referenced the prison.
''
The Shawshank Redemption'', a motion picture based on the novella, was released in 1994. The actual building used for filming was the
Ohio State Reformatory
The Ohio State Reformatory (OSR), also known as the Mansfield Reformatory, is a historic prison located in Mansfield, Ohio in the United States. It was built between 1886 and 1910 and remained in operation until 1990, when a United States Feder ...
in
Mansfield, Ohio.
Shawshank State Prison also appears in several episodes of the
Hulu
Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...
original series ''
Castle Rock Castle Rock may refer to:
Geography Islands
* Castle Rock (Alaskan Island), an island off the coast of the U.S. state of Alaska
* Castle Rock, Hong Kong (螺洲白排), an island of Hong Kong, part of the Po Toi Islands
* Castle Rock (Massachusett ...
''. For the series, the showrunners used the
West Virginia Penitentiary
The West Virginia Penitentiary is a gothic-style prison located in Moundsville, West Virginia. Now withdrawn and retired from prison use, it operated from 1876 to 1995. Currently, the site is maintained as a tourist attraction, museum, training f ...
as the prison. “Part of the reason we chose the prison that we chose to shoot at was we loved the idea that there are houses literally in the shadow of the prison," said showrunner Sam Shaw. "It’s pretty different from the amazing prison in Ohio that they shot for the movie, which stands alone."
Works that reference Shawshank State Prison
In other media
Apart from appearing in the ''Castle Rock'' TV series, Shawshank State Prison is also mentioned in two episodes of ''
Haven
Haven or The Haven may refer to:
* Harbor or haven, a sheltered body of water where ships can be docked
Arts and entertainment
Fictional characters
* Haven (Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter), from the novel series
* Haven (comics), from the ''X-Men ...
,'' and an episode of ''Murder, She Wrote.'' References to the prison can also be found in works of King's son
Joe Hill, including the novel ''
NOS4A2
''NOS4A2'' (pronounced ''Nosferatu'') is the third novel by American author Joe Hill, son of authors Stephen and Tabitha King. The book was published on April 30, 2013 through William Morrow and Company, and has since been adapted to a televis ...
'' and the 2019 comic ''Basket Full of Heads''.
The name "Shawshank" is often used in popular culture as a noun to reference a successful prison break. An example of this can be found in the twelfth episode of ''
The Flashs first season. The series features cast members from ''The Shawshank Redemption'', including
Clancy Brown and
William Sadler.
See also
*
Shawshank tree
The Shawshank tree was a white oak located near Malabar Farm State Park in Monroe Township, Richland County, Ohio, United States, near Lucas, that was featured in the 1994 motion picture ''The Shawshank Redemption''. The tree was at least tal ...
, a white oak tree featured in the 1994 film.
References
{{Stephen King
Fictional prisons
Fictional populated places created by Stephen King
Castle Rock (franchise)
Fictional elements introduced in 1982