History of the Lorton Complex

History of the Lorton Complex . . . In 1910, the U.S. Government acquired land along the Occoquan River. This site became the Occoquan Workhouse, designed first as a workhouse and later as a reformatory for the District of Columbia. Built as a model of innovative thinking, The Workhouse was the result of the approach to criminal punishment and reform at the time of the facility's origination.

"The belief was that a prisoner's hard physical work, learned skills and fresh air would transform him into a model citizen" (Washington Post, 2/7/99). Inmates worked on a 1,200-acre farm raising hogs, cattle and chickens and built many of the buildings in the complex, including the dorms, dining hall, laundry, bake shop, ice plant and hospital. Two more sections were added later, the Lorton Reformatory in 1913 and finally the penitentiary in the 1930's. The workhouse was first used as a small prison in 1916, housing sixty inmates. The prison facilities quickly grew and in 1917, the Workhouse received it most famous inmates - the suffragists.

About 170 women were arrested for their participation in marches in front of the White House on behalf of suffrage. These women were brought to Lorton where they were physically abused, forced if they refused to eat, and made to live in filthy conditions.

As news of the suffragettes' poor treatment at the facility leaked out to the public, support for their cause grew. These women were part of the final phase of protests that lasted decades and resulted in women winning the right to vote in 1920 under the 19th Amendment. In 1982, a historical marker was placed at the Lorton Complex as a tribute to the suffragists.

By the 1930s the prison began looking more like it did before closing in 2002. It grew to an extensive 3,200-acre complex, housing between 6,000 and 7,000 inmates. Bars and locks were installed and the farming continued until only a couple of years ago.

In addition to the D.C. Department of Corrections facilities, several other uses such as a landfill, and energy/resource recovery facility, recreation area, and a quarry were located on the property, as well as nearly 500 buildings, creating the vast complex of today.

By 1955, the Lorton Complex was inhabited by 7,300 inmates. This number was about 44 percent over its capacity and was expected to increase. The D.C. Department of Corrections did not have the funds needed to construct housing for the exploding inmate population or to maintain the facilities and adequate staffing levels. In March 1997, Senator John Warner introduced legislation that would require closure of the Workhouse as well as the entire Lorton Complex by the year 2003. The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 was then passed and required the District of Columbia to begin transferring prisoners out of the Workhouse and to close the facility by December 31, 2001.

Pursuant to Section 141 of Public law 105-277, the Lorton Technical Corrections Act of 1998, GSA assumed temporary landholding and disposal agency responsibilities on December 21, 1998. In it report to Congress dated January 3, 2000, GSA recommended that some of the buildings be preserved as historic district whereby they should "be either incorporated into public parks or adaptively reused where appropriate to ensure that these resources are adequately conserved and protected."

In July 2002, Fairfax County received title to 2,440 acres of the Lorton Complex and was tasked with the challenging decisions on how to use the property "to its fullest potential as a world-class asset for Fairfax County residents" (Washington Post, 7/11/02