As the city begins the development process of the former Indiana Women’s Prison, local organization City Rising has collected stories from people connected to the site.
Community members are invited to hear these stories at Beyond These Gates: Remembering Home, The Prison, and a Place Yet to Be.
The event will be 7:30 p.m. Nov. 11 at Kan Kan Cinema, 1258 Windsor St., and will feature videos, audio and live conversations. There will also be spoken word poetry from local poets Marissa Byers, Corey Ewing and Daniel Gray-Kontar. Indianapolis music and visual artist Kristin Newborn will also present work.
City Rising says the goal of the event is to document the site’s past and think about possibilities for future development.
The Indiana Women’s Prison was established in 1873 as the first separate prison for women in the United States. The prison was relocated to the west side in 2009, and the near eastside property became a reentry facility for the Marion County criminal justice system. The property has been vacant since 2017 and had been under the control of the Indiana Department of Administration. In 2024, the property was transferred to the city of Indianapolis.
If you go
Tickets for Beyond These Gates are $10 and can be purchased on the Kan Kan Cinema website.
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Mirror Indy reporter Darian Benson covers east Indianapolis. Contact her at 317-397-7262 or darian.benson@mirrorindy.org. Follow her on X @HelloImDarian or on Bluesky @darianbenson.bsky.social.
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