America’s abandoned prisons and crumbling correctional facilities tell a sobering and sometimes chilling story of the way people have been incarcerated throughout the centuries – often in harsh, cramped conditions and for crimes that no longer exist. They range from so-called ‘squirrel cage jails’, where tiny cells were rotated using a carousel system, to spooky cell blocks said to be haunted by the ghosts of former inmates and wardens.

Click through the gallery to discover the eeriest abandoned prisons around the US...