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Johnson Island Civil War Prison and Fort Site

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Photograph of Johnson Island Civil War Prison and Fort Site
Photo via Wikimedia Commons

Background

Johnson's Island is a 300-acre (120 ha) island in Sandusky Bay, located on the coast of Lake Erie, 3 miles (4.8 km) from the city of Sandusky, Ohio. It was the site of a prisoner-of-war camp for Confederate officers captured during the American Civil War. Initially, Johnson's Island was the only Union prison camp exclusively for Confederate officers but eventually it held privates, political prisoners, persons sentenced to court martial, and spies. Civilians who were arrested as guerrillas, or bushwhackers, were also imprisoned on the island. During its three years of operation, more than 15,000 men were incarcerated there.

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 28 May 2026 · methodology

Facility profile

Operator

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Population 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

Source: Wikidata + Wikipedia.

Contact & address

No public contact details available.

Conditions Risk Score

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Data completeness

16%

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Sources

Cite this page

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APA
World Prisons. (2026). Johnson Island Civil War Prison and Fort Site. Retrieved October 21, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/prisons/johnson-island-civil-war-prison-and-fort-site
Chicago
"Johnson Island Civil War Prison and Fort Site." World Prisons. Accessed October 21, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/prisons/johnson-island-civil-war-prison-and-fort-site.
BibTeX
@misc{worldprisons-johnson-island-civil-war-pr,
  author = {{World Prisons}},
  title = {Johnson Island Civil War Prison and Fort Site},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://worldprisons.com/prisons/johnson-island-civil-war-prison-and-fort-site},
  urldate = {2026-10-21}
}