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The Ohio Prison Fire

Rescue workers aid fire victims at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Columbus, Ohio on April 21, 1930. More than 300 persons, mostly inmates, perished in the fire.
Associated Press
Rescue workers aid fire victims at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Columbus, Ohio on April 21, 1930. More than 300 persons, mostly inmates, perished in the fire.

This episode originally aired on December 5, 2019.

On Easter Monday in 1930, a fire trapped hundreds of inmates in the aging Ohio Penitentiary just minutes after they returned to their cells after a holiday supper.

What remains the deadliest prison fire in American history claimed the lives of 320 men who hailed from every corner of the country and beyond.

The tragedy made heroes of some and highlight the horrifying penal conditions in Depression-era prisons across the country. 

Today on All Sides with Ann Fisher: author Mitchell P. Roth talks about his new book, Fire In The Big House: America’s Deadliest Prison Disaster. 

 
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