Fort Delaware
Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date. Always verify with primary sources before acting on any figure. See data sources.
For families
How to send mail, money, and visit Fort Delaware
Step-by-step guidance using the United States system — addresses, money services, visit booking, what to bring on your first visit.

Gallery
From Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA where not otherwise stated).

Photo by combatphoto44 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

Photo by Brendan Mackie via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

Photo by Mpdoughboy153 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Photo by Shun Ho via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Photo by Shun Ho via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Photo by Mpdoughboy153 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Photo by U.S. Post Office via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

Photo by U.S. Post Office via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Background
Fort Delaware is a former harbor defense facility, designed by chief engineer Joseph Gilbert Totten and located on Pea Patch Island in the Delaware River. During the American Civil War (1861â1865), the Union / United States Department of War / United States Army used Fort Delaware as a prison for Confederate prisoners of war, political prisoners, miscellaneous civilians, federal convicts, and privateer officers. A three-gun concrete battery of 12-inch guns, later named Battery Torbert, was designed by Maj. Charles W. Raymond and built inside the fort in the 1890s. By 1900, the fort was part of a three fort concept, the first forts of the Coast Defenses of the Delaware, working closely with Fort Mott further upstream on the opposite shore, in Pennsville, New Jersey, and Fort DuPont downstream in Delaware City, Delaware.
Source: Wikipedia article lead, CC-BY-SA.
Capacity
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Current population
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Occupancy
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Year opened
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Operational
Figures from official sources · verified 29 May 2026 · methodology
Facility profile
Operator
Union ArmyPopulation held
Mixed/unknown
Opened
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Region
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Security level
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Death-row facility
No
Conditions
No conditions summary available yet.
Visiting
No visiting information available.
Mailing
No mailing information available.
Practical info
Contact the operator's website for inmate-specific procedures.
Known issues
No major issues documented in our database.
Notable inmates
Lewis Frederick Gay1840–1931 · soldier
M. Jeff Thompson1826–1876 · engineerBrigadier-General Meriweather Jeff Thompson (January 22, 1826 â September 5, 1876), nicknamed "Swamp Fox," was an American soldier who was a senior officer of the Missouri State Guard who commanded cavalry in the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War.
Source: Wikidata + Wikipedia.
Contact & address
No public contact details available.
Conditions Risk Score
Derived signal — not a judgement. How it's calculated
Related facilities
Same country, matched on type + security level where possible.
- Rikers IslandEast Elmhurst, NYMixedLocal jail42% occupancy
- Franklin County Detention FacilitySt. AlbansMaximumCounty jail660% occupancy
- Gallia County JailGallipolisCounty jail336% occupancy
- Noble County JailCaldwellCounty jail542% occupancy
- Woodman State JailGatesvilleMaximumState prison720% occupancy
- Stark County JailToulonCounty jail3446% occupancy
Data completeness
20%How many of our profile fields are populated. We surface this so families and researchers know the limits.
Sources
- Wikipedia — Wikimedia Foundation
- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation
- Wikidata (Q5471049)
- Wikipedia
- Wikimedia Commons
- See /data-sources for our overall methodology.
Cite this page
Under CC-BY-4.0. Include the URL and access date; the site is a living reference and entries can change.
World Prisons. (2026). Fort Delaware. Retrieved October 20, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/prisons/fort-delaware
"Fort Delaware." World Prisons. Accessed October 20, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/prisons/fort-delaware.
@misc{worldprisons-fort-delaware,
author = {{World Prisons}},
title = {Fort Delaware},
year = {2026},
url = {https://worldprisons.com/prisons/fort-delaware},
urldate = {2026-10-20}
}