I read in today's edition of the Washington Post
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/feed/a12299-1999oct19.htm
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/feed/a12299-1999oct19.htm>
that the General Services Administration, owner of the 3,000-acre site in
Fairfax County, Virginia will be recommending the 136 buildings of the
Lorton Correctional Complex on a 552-acre tract be preserved as an historic
district.  As most of you know, available land in that part of Northern
Virginia is becoming scarce due to so many peoples' desires to own more than
a condo on a postage stamp-sized lot.  Does anyone really think that the
government should preserve this particular nasty, old ca. 1910 prison
complex as a park?  The GSA under federal legislation is to transfer
ownership of part or all of the property to the Department of the Interior,
Northern Virginia Park Authority, of Fairfax County Park Authority.  The
land could be transferred to a public or private entity in accordance with
the Fairfax County re-use plan and the best interest of the United States,
according to the article.

I am certain some would use the National Register Criteria to establish
significance of this property in order to save this sample of turn of the
century prison buildings.  No doubt they would argue the property qualifies
under Criterion A as an example of a failed "event," in that the prison farm
was constructed "during the Progressive Era when reformers worked to improve
conditions at institutions such as insane asylums and prisons.  The theory
was that if people were put in a wholesome environment, they would thrive
and improve morally.  The workhouse and reformatory originally had no bars
or locks.  Prisoners were expected to improve themselves through hard
outdoor work on the 1,200-acre farm...By the 1940s, bars and locks had been
installed...The reformatory and maximum security are still filled with D.C.
prisoners..."(see the Washington Post 10-19-99 article).  Although most of
the rest of the prison population has been distributed to other prisons, the
last prisoners are expected to be removed by 2001.  For those of you
unfamiliar with Lorton, its record is clear, it has excelled as a failed
experiment.  However, this probably is not something people want to remember
or take the children on a picnic to visit!  There likely were many
significant persons (Criterion B) associated with Lorton, but again, I
suspect most were criminals and probably ones Society would rather forget.
As for Criterion C, the buildings may be an interesting example of a
Colonial Revival - Institutional design, but should they really be
considered to be worthy of "National, State, or Local" significance?

I know that is a loaded question, but what "important" information
(Criterion D) would we expect these buildings to possess?  Could it be that
when managers are tasked with deciding the fate of old institutional
buildings like this, they forget the tough questions and simply go for
preserving the whole lot, as a sacred prison museum.  Don't count on seeing
me or my family heading there as a vacation destination...