The mission of the Maine State Museum is to collect objects representing all aspects of Maine life, including those associated with difficult topics such as imprisonment and death. Pictured at left, Joseph W. Kerr’s grave marker is an example of both.
Kerr was an inmate at the Maine State Prison’s Thomaston facility from early 1888 to his death there on September 1, 1890 at the age of 23. A native of Calais, Kerr was sent to prison following his conviction for breaking and entering. He was just one year away from completing his four-year sentence when he died of tuberculosis, the second leading cause of death in 1900.
Kerr’s experience was not uncommon. The Maine State Prison’s Thomaston facility was open for 178 years, from 1824 to 2002. Especially in the early years, poor living conditions and overcrowding meant that inmates faced serious health risks. Most years, at least one inmate died from illness or suicide.
Kerr and others who died at the Maine State Prison were buried in a cemetery just outside the prison walls. When the Maine State Prison moved to its new location in Warren, the cemetery’s wooden markers were replaced with markers of stone.
Twenty-one of the older markers were transferred to the Maine State Museum to be preserved as an important reminder of the practices and perils of prison life 100 years ago. The prison cemetery remains in its Thomaston location today.
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