No, not as an inmate convicted of a crime with a conjugal visit from your spouse-to-be. But as in using a unused prison as a venue that you rent for the occasion.
Yesterday's WSJ A-Hed piece appeared a day before Valentine's Day, but that doesn't matter. It seems for couples seeking wedding venues that are decidedly not some catering hall likely operated by the Mafia, there is the option of renting a decommissioned prison as a venue for holding the ceremony—perhaps a place where they once incarcerated some organized crime figures. There is an air of authenticity in these places.
Eastern States Penitentiary outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has been rented out for weddings. It is proving popular, with a discount for weekday dates and for those who live in the neighborhood.
Tax deductibility is not mentioned in the story, but weddings have been held in museums with a portion of the expense considered tax deductible as a contribution to a charitable institution. Or, at least that was once true. Tax laws change
Eastern State Penitentiary, a maximum security prison, opened in 1829 when Andrew Jackson was president and there were only 15 stars on Old Glory. It was where Al Capone was famously held, before getting a view of San Francisco Bay from "The Rock" in Alcatraz. Eastern State closed in 1971.
It was also where the famous bank robber Willie "The Actor" Sutton escaped from when he found his way out through the sewer system. Willie is thought to have offered his justification for a career of robbing banks to be that he did it because, "that's where the money is." Or was, after he left.
Other prisons have been offering their venues for weddings. Freemantle Prison in Western Australia has been tapped for nuptials.
Shrewsbury Prison across the pond in England is available, as is Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio, the setting for the movie Shawshank Redemption.
There is little mention of catering food in these venues. One couple arranged for a food truck to appear, offering wraps and scallion pancakes. But it seems the prison venues most often take the place of a church, with the other festivities moving to more traditional settings.
As usual, The A-Hed piece is filled with puns. The advantage to the online story and the print edition is that the editors get more opportunities to stuff them in.
Take the online edition that adds the sub-heading that doesn't appear in the print edition.
Former Clinks...are renting space for your special event. Get the band to play a few bars.
Take the couple that are looking forward to celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary in Eastern State Prison. They are not solitary in their pursuit.
One couple wove in the theme of "till death do us part" and "sentenced to life" into their wedding vows. Unlike more people in prison who will tell anyone who listens that they didn't do, these couples tell you they did do it.
Part of the prison attractions is that the wedding guests get a tour of the prison while the happy couple are having their photos taken. This has proved to be very popular.
New York State has an active prison, Sing, Sing in Ossining, New York, a Westchester County suburb. Over the years there have been plans to empty Sing Sing out because the value of the real estate overlooking the Hudson River is astronomical.
There are developers who would kill to get the rights to build there. But then you'd have to put them in prison.
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