For nearly 100 years the Tennessee State Prison housed some of the most dangerous men in the state of Tennessee. Opening its doors in 1898, the prison was over crowded from day one. This made way to many problems such as riots, escape attempts, and violence among inmates and staff. In 1992 the prison closed its doors, and it has set in an abandoned state ever since.

Some movies have been filmed at the prison since its doors closed, most notably, "The Green Mile" and "The Last Castle". The prison was also in headlines when music legend, Johhny Cash played concerts for the prisoners.

We are petitioning to "Save The Prison", because we feel that even though the history of the prison may be dark, it is still history, and the only way to learn from our past mistakes, is to teach the history of those before us. We also feel that the prison should be taken care of, and help the deterioration of the building stop. We would like the Tennessee Department of Corrections to allow volunteers to clean up the prison and grounds, and eventually open it up for tours. We believe this prison could become a tourist attraction to the state, much like other prisons such as Alcatraz, Ohio State Reformatory, Missouri State Prison, West Virginia State Pen, and Eastern State Pen. All of these locations have opened up to the public and have been very successful at bringing tourist to their towns and cities, that normally wouldn't come. Any name signed on this petition is either someone that would want to volunteer to help with cleanup/preservation or someone that would love to tour the building when it is ready. We want TDOC to realize they wouldn't have to spend as much money keeping the building up, because there are people in this state that care enough about the history of the prison, to donate their time to "Save The Prison"