In the mid-19th century, most of the land was acquired by the State of Rhode Island to construct a state prison, a poor house, and other state facilities. The Rhode Island State Prison, designed by prison reformer John Haviland was first built in 1878,[1][2] and is a stark and imposing gothic structure built of granite block. Over the last several decades, numerous other institutional buildings for incarcerated criminals and the intellectually disabled were constructed.[3][4]
Today, Howard encompasses an area of almost one square mile. Its numerous prison buildings house over 2,000 male and female prisoners as well as several hundred mental health patients.
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