Tennessee State Prison

You’re now looking at one of Nashville’s most haunting relics: the Tennessee State Penitentiary. As a reminder: do not cross the railroad tracks—this property remains state-owned and is staffed with security. Built in 1898, and shuttered nearly a century later, its fortress-like silhouette and Gothic Revival architecture have made it a striking backdrop for both Hollywood and history. Shut down in 1992 after a federal class-action lawsuit over inhumane conditions, the prison remains an infamous local landmark.

Located at Cockrill Bend, the prison was designed with 800 solitary cells, 20-foot stone walls, and factories operated by private companies using inmate labor. According to the Tennessee Encyclopedia, the prison was built for 1,000 inmates but admitted 1,403 on opening day, February 12, 1898—ushering in a century of escapes, fires, riots, and chronic overcrowding.

Even while active, the prison attracted artists and filmmakers. In 1974, Johnny Cash recorded A Concert Behind Prison Walls here with Linda Ronstadt, Roy Clark, and Richard Pryor. Two years later, the documentary Heartworn Highways, starring Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt, featured David Allan Coe performing in the prison chapel.

That same era marked the penitentiary’s Hollywood debut in Framed (1975), directed by Phil Karlson and starring Joe Don Baker and Motown singer Conny Van Dyke. The production used real inmates as extras. It premiered in Nashville that fall. 

In the early 1990s, the prison served as the fictional Dracup Maximum Security Prison in Ernest Goes to Jail. When threatened physically by another inmate in the film, Nashville’s own Jim Varney, as Ernest P. Worrell, delivers the hilarious line: “Real men are not intimidated by physical threats against their personal selves, and, ironically, neither am I.”

A decade later, The Green Mile offered a haunting contrast. Based on Stephen King’s novel, it starred Tom Hanks as death row guard Paul Edgecomb: “We each owe a death – there are no exceptions – but, oh God, sometimes the Green Mile seems so long.” Edgecomb was referring to John Coffey, played by Michael Clarke Duncan—a gentle, wrongfully convicted man with a supernatural gift. The role earned Duncan an Oscar nomination in the year 2000. Other titles filmed here include Against the Wall (1994), Last Dance (1996), The Last Castle (2001), and Walk the Line (2005).

Even after a 2023 tornado caused major damage, the Tennessee State Penitentiary still stands—its layered history urging us to look beyond what’s captured on film and consider the real systems those stories expose.

Turn around now and head back up Centennial Blvd. but this time turn RIGHT onto 63rd Ave N. then turn LEFT onto Morrow Rd. This will take you through the Nations neighborhood, where much of the 1997 movie Gummo was filmed. Stay on Morrow Road as you pass under Interstate 40 and turn LEFT onto Charlotte Pike. Your next stop, Bobbie’s Dairy Dip will be on your right at 5301 Charlotte Ave. Turn RIGHT on 53rd Avenue N for parking options that include street parking on 53rd Ave N or in the lot next to Hattie B’s.