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United States

Old Brick Capitol

Closed 1929Low
Verified 29 May 2026
Fresh · 1d ago

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Photograph of Old Brick Capitol

Gallery

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

  • Secrets of the prison-house-the black hole of Washington, D.C. - from sketches made on the spot by our special artist, Mr. A. Lumley. LCCN91795204.jpg

    Photo by Lumley, Arthur, approximately 1837-1912, artist via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

  • Secrets of the prison-house-the black hole of Washington, D.C. - from sketches made on the spot by our special artist, Mr. A. Lumley. LCCN91795204-2.jpg

    Photo by Lumley, Arthur, approximately 1837-1912, artist via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

  • Harper's weekly (1865) (14764881185).jpg

    Photo by Internet Archive Book Images via Wikimedia Commons (No restrictions)

  • Harper's weekly (1865) (14741880176).jpg

    Photo by Internet Archive Book Images via Wikimedia Commons (No restrictions)

  • The court-room at the Old Penetentiary, Washington, during the Trial of the conspirators - Harper's Weekly, 1865.jpg

    Photo by Unknown artistUnknown artist, Harper's Staff, after special artist Mr Andrew McCullum correspondent via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

  • American bastile. A history of the illegal arrests and imprisonment of American citizens during the late civil war (1870) (14576071648).jpg

    Photo by Internet Archive Book Images via Wikimedia Commons (No restrictions)

  • BrickCapitol.jpg

    Photo by Stilltim at en.wikipedia via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

  • Capitolprison1.gif

    Photo by War Department. Office of the Chief Signal Officer via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

Background

The Old Brick Capitol in Washington, D.C., served as the temporary meeting place of the Congress of the United States from 1815 to 1819, while the Capitol Building was rebuilt after the burning of Washington in late 1814. "Old Brick" served as a private school, a boarding house, and, during the American Civil War, a prison known as the Old Capitol Prison. It was demolished in 1929, and its site is now occupied by the U.S. Supreme Court building.

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

1815

Closed 1929

Facility profile

Operator

Union Army

Population held

Mixed/unknown

Opened

1815

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.

Contact & address

No public contact details available.

Conditions Risk Score

Derived signal — not a judgement. How it's calculated

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Insufficient data
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Data completeness

20%

How many of our profile fields are populated. We surface this so families and researchers know the limits.

Sources