Fort Maleson

Fort Maleson was a World War II fort build on Carnate Island in 1942 as both a defensive military base and a POW prison. According to amateur Carnate historian, Consuela Alvarez, it was staffed by two-hundred and fifty soldiers, and around one-thousand German prisoners of war. Much of the fort is built into the rock and stone that makes up the island, making it not only a very durable structure, but proved to be a good foundation for Abbott Penitentiary. For unknown reasons, the basement of the prison was condemned and closed off years ago, but some entrances can still be found. Most notably, several passages in D building, the sewer system, unintentional passages in the surrounding caves, and other ways have been found.

Commanding officer

The most famous, or infamous, story surrounding the fort is of its colonel. He discovered a crashed German plane near the bluffs and immediately assumed that several officers of German ancestry that were under his command were guilty of leading the plane there. Without any court martial or trial, he had them executed by firing squad. Having been served court martial papers on August 7th, 1944, he immediately took his own life with his sidearm. His proceedings were to be held on the 22nd of that month.

Closing and current use

Main article Abbott State Penitentiary

Since the fort's closing shortly after the war, it was taken over by the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. The fort's structure itself was originally used to house inmates while the newer sections of the prison were being built. The prison was constructed of local quarry rock that was mined using inmate labor. It used the existing structure of the fort as the foundation, but the oldest parts of the fort have been condemned, closed off, and mostly abandoned.