portsmouth naval prison tours

Portsmouth Naval Prison

Welcome! Here you can find dates of upcoming talks, prison history, and ways to help with preservation efforts. Want to visit the prison?

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Tour the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Tuesday April 16

March 26, 2024

Have you ever gazed over the river and wondered about the historic Portsmouth Naval Shipyard? Do you have relatives who may have worked there, or served on a submarine stationed there for repairs? Have you ever been curious about the naval prison? Would you like to see the Russo-Japanese Peace Treaty signing room?  This month we are taking a tour, and look forward to hosting this exciting event with the staff of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard!

Joe Gluckert, Shipyard Historian, as well as some of Joe's PNS colleagues, will lead two tours departing from the Portsmouth Public Library. We will visit the Shipyard Museum, have a general tour of the shipyard, and view the room where dignitaries from Russia, Japan, and the United States gathered to sign the Russo-Japanese Peace Treaty in 1905.  The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is the nation's longest continuously operating Navy Shipyard, so you won't want to miss the opportunity to visit and experience 223 years of history.

There are two sessions, Tuesday, April 9th, 10am-12:30pm, and Tuesday, April 16th, 10am-12:30pm . Registration is required and space is limited to 25 people per date. Please only register for one session. This is a rain-or-shine event. Please dress appropriately and be prepared to do a bit of walking and standing. Comfortable shoes are recommended.  People will be required to walk a bit and to climb stairs.  The bus is not handicapped accessible.  We will visit the Shipyard Mall, the Submarine Memorial, the Treaty of Portsmouth exhibit rooms, the former U.S. Naval Prison, and the Shipyard Heritage Center.

Participants will meet on the bricks in front of the library and board a bus that will take them across the Memorial Bridge for a special guided tour of PNS !

Please note:  You must be a U.S. citizen to attend the tour. Due to security precautions, all participants will require prior clearance to visit the Shipyard, and the library must provide names and addresses for each participant one week before our visits. On the day of the visits, all participants will be required to show identification to board the shuttle. Acceptable identification includes a driver's license, state-issued ID, or passport.

Registration is required. Space is limited. Open to adults and teens with appropriate ID.

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Thursday, July 10, 2014

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News and Updates on Kittery

Documentary examines ‘The Castle,’ legendary Navy prison

By D. Allan Kerr [email protected] NH_Portsmouth_Herald

It’s one of the most prominent features of the Seacoast landscape, but few living have ever seen it up close, much less entered inside. The former Naval prison at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard was appropriately dubbed “The Castle” in its heyday, and the moniker holds fast today – even 40 years after the prison closed its doors. On Dec. 17, the Castle will be brought to life again at Rice Public Library in Kittery, through a free event featuring a video presentation by filmmaker Neil Novello. The Castle has for decades been a source of local myth and urban legend. Novello’s presentation will enlighten viewers to the factual history of this landmark institution. The event will include film footage from inside the prison not seen by the public for more than 90 years, from a 1917 silent movie produced by the only civilian commander of the prison, Thomas Mott Osborne. Novello also provides rarely seen video filmed in 1945 of captured German U-Boat crews escorted to the naval prison at the end of the World War II. Fifteen U-boats were brought to the shipyard after Germany’s surrender, according to the filmmaker. Novello’s presentation will cover eras including World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War. National archival photos of the building of the prison in 1904 will also be included, as will interviews with prisoners filmed during the Vietnam era as part of a U.S. Navy documentary about the facility. “As far as I know, I’m the only filmmaker to make any documentaries about the history of the Naval prison outside of the Navy,” Novello said. Lording over the Piscataqua River for several decades now, the long-abandoned prison has inspired some tall tales over the years. Perhaps most famous is the legend of a young inmate named Walt Disney, who supposedly served time at the facility and found there his inspiration for Cinderella’s Castle years later. Tour boat captains have frequently repeated this story during river cruises. That story, though fascinating, is not true. Disney never served time at the prison, and the design for Cinderella’s Castle was inspired by 15th-century German castles, according to Novello. However, it is a fact that Navy sailor Humphrey Bogart was escorting a prisoner to the Castle when the convict smashed his handcuffs into Bogart’s mouth during an escape attempt. The future movie icon’s famous scar and lisp reportedly resulted from the incident. And in the classic 1973 film “The Last Detail,” Jack Nicholson portrays one of the Navy sailors escorting Randy Quaid to the prison for an eight-year sentence. However, none of the filming took place here. The prison’s construction was completed in 1908, and at the time it was the largest poured concrete building in the world. But even before that, more than 1,600 enemy prisoners from the Spanish-American War were held at the site toward the end of the 19th century. For nearly seven decades, the Castle housed Navy sailors and Marines sentenced for a wide range of offenses, reaching a peak of more than 3,000 during World War II. A sneak preview of the production assures it’s quite a kick seeing a place that most people have only known as a monolithic ghost of a building teeming with life again. The footage includes interviews with several individuals who worked at the Castle before it finally closed its doors for good back in 1974. Novello has provided a wide range of productions over the past quarter-century, specializing in documentaries. He produces both family biographies and Internet business videos. Previews of his documentaries can be found on his production company’s website at www.iguanadivision.com . Copies of Novello’s DVD will be on sale at the Wednesday, Dec. 17 event, which starts at 6 p.m. Those interested in attending should register at Rice Public Library or through the library’s Web site, www.rice.lib.me.us. D. Allan Kerr is the author of “Silent Strength,” the story of the crewmen lost aboard the USS Thresher in history’s worst submarine disaster based upon a series of articles that ran in the Portsmouth Herald in advance of the 50th anniversary of the 1963 Thresher disaster. He is also a member of Rice Public Library’s board of directors.

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Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Historical Foundation

Preserving the Heritage of The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard

Visiting the Heritage Center

For people with badges that give them access to Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNSY), the Heritage Center is open on Thursdays from 7:00 am to 3:00 pm*.  The Heritage Center is only available by appointment (use the contact form below) on other days of the week. 

For people without badges that give them access to PNSY, due to security restrictions, requests for history tours including the Peace Treaty Room, access by veterans associations, community groups, and others are considered strictly on a case-by-case basis. For more information on shipyard history tours, please email the Public Affairs Office:

[email protected]

There are also some groups that organize tours of PNSY, they can be reached at:

• Kittery Adult Education – https://kittery.maineadulted.org/classes/categories/lectures-and-history/
• OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute) at Granite State College – https://olli.granite.edu/courses-events

Here is some basic information and requirements regarding visits :

• No less than one week prior to the visit, please provide a list of all tour attendees.  The list must include the name, age, and address for each individual.  We will not be able to accommodate last-minute changes to the list.
• We need confirmation of citizenship status. 
• Foreign Nationals may be allowed to attend, but would need to supply additional information not less than two weeks prior to the visit.
• Visitors must not have been convicted of a crime within a certain timeframe (no felony convictions within 10 years; two or more misdemeanor convictions within 5 years). Also, conviction of any crime considered a threat to good order; convicted sex offenders will not be admitted.
• On the day of the visit all guests must provide a valid, government-issued ID.

If you have any other, non-tour related, questions for the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Historical Foundation, please fill out the contact form below:

* The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Historical Foundation has a small gift shop at the Heritage Center where you can purchase books, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard shirts, fleeces and other garments. At this time they can only accept cash and checks.

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• Events & Activities
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The MWR Community Recreation Program organizes trips for all PNSY families, and all active duty armed forces and Coast Guard families.

We have trips that provide transportation to a specified destination that may be to a specific event or it may be a place where participants have the option to explore the destination on their own.

We also provide trips that are 'Drive on your own". These outings have a specific destination where MWR has planned a program for you to enjoy on your own. These outings have reservations for the event and/or reservations for a place for you to stayif an overnight trip.

MWR plans a variety of trips:

• Cultural excursions are trips that involve the arts, intellectual pursuits and/or societal customs.
• Spectator excursions are trips that involve watching shows, games or other events.
• Tourism excursions are trips that involve traveling to places outside the usual environment.
• Experiential excursions are trips or outings that involve participation in an activity (rock climbing, tubing, outdoor recreation adventure, and fishing).

*Some trips/tours/outings may provide transportation and others may require your own transportation.

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What happens in portsmouth, stays in portsmouth: the abandoned naval prison’s dark history.

Dubbed the “Alcatraz of the East,” the Portsmouth Naval Prison has been abandoned since the 1970s, but it stands as tall, imposing, and mysterious as ever.

Stationed at the far end of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on Seavey Island, right on the border of Maine and New Hampshire, the Portsmouth Naval Prison has survived the darkest years imaginable: two World Wars, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, and somehow still stands strong, showing no signs of surrendering.

But the building has created enough darkness on its own. Don’t be fooled by the prison’s seemingly appealing look from the outside. The real horrors came from the inside, which is how the place earned its formidable reputation as a dangerous and menacing spot, with a secretive nature.

Digging into its past, the prison’s history is nowhere near as dark as people say it is. More than that, the building’s foundations have their own story to tell, one that predates the prison, beginning years before it was actually built.

During the American Revolution, and then later, in the War of 1812, the island was the location of Fort Sullivan. After the fort was dismantled, the island became the home of Camp Long, which leads us to the construction of the Portsmouth Naval Prison.

When Camp Long was disassembled in 1901, the island was available for the construction of a brand new prison,  more specifically a prison for convicted members of the Navy. It would eventually be extended to house Marines and Coast Guard inmates. As we know, the military has very strict rules and codes of conduct. And when a member of the military didn’t abide by those rules, he was sent to serve time here. The sentences were pretty severe, especially for deserters and those who committed an act of cowardice or fragging. But even small-time crimes like stealing could’ve gotten you at least eight years in Portsmouth penitentiary.

Seavey Island had the perfect conditions for a prison construction. It’s isolated and far from populated areas, and the strong currents made an escape from the island almost impossible. Simply, the place was an impenetrable fortress. Some people even said that the prison’s design was a fully accurate reproduction of a castle from medieval times. No wonder it was called the second Alcatraz. (Rumors circulated that the prison contained a dungeon, which ultimately proved false.)

Contrary to popular belief, Portsmouth was actually modeled after Leavenworth penitentiary in Kansas and Auburn Correctional Facility, New York, not Alcatraz.

In 1908, almost immediately after construction was finished, the first prisoners were shipped in. At the time, Colonel Kelton was in charge of the facility. During World War I, the prison’s command was given to Lieutenant Commander Thomas Osborne, who, in order to inspect the living conditions and see what changes needed to be made, committed himself into Portsmouth undercover for a while.

By the end of the war, the penitentiary had a population of more than 2,000 inmates. According to Neli Novello, the producer of a documentary called The Castle, in the first 10 years, the conditions in Portsmouth were pretty harsh: it had a tangled relationship between the guards and the inmates, a lot of criminal activity. and contraband.

Osborne managed to turn that around. With Roosevelt’s backing, he pushed for reforms, under the motto “Prisoners governing prisoners.” A basketball court, a gym, and a theater were added to the prison, as well as new programs and courses so that it would be easier for the prisoners to rejoin society after they had served their sentences.

But despite his progressive thinking and noble intentions, Osborne’s reforms met with a lot of backlash from higher up officials after World War I ended. Osborne was even forced to defend himself before the Justice Department, which he did successfully. Eventually, he was no longer able to handle the pressure, and he retired in 1921.

Today, however, what’s most know from the time of the Great War are not the Portsmouth reforms dispute. It is actually more of a Hollywood story concerning the young Humphrey Bogart. According to Novello, there were several reports claiming that Bogart was at the time stationed there. And he had a role of a “chaser”: escorting convicted sailors to the prison.

One story in particular is that once when Bogart escorted a prisoner from Boston, the inmate tried to escape. A struggle commenced between the two and the prisoner managed to take a hold of his gun and hit him on the lip with it.

Whether this story is fact or fiction we will never know, but it is said to be responsible for creating the distinct “Bogart sound” of speaking. Nevertheless, it is accepted as truth and retold every time there is an arranged group tour at the prison.

Furthermore, the entire plot of the 1973 road-trip film The Last Detail involves the Jack Nicholson character escorting a convicted sailor to Portsmouth penitentiary.

In World War II, the prison’s population had almost doubled, surpassing 3,000 inmates. Two additional wings were built, on the northeast and southwest corner, in 1942 and 1943 respectively. In a survey made by the Boston Globe in 1944, 86 percent of prisoners that served time returned to military duty afterward. One of those prisoners was the future founder of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard, who went on to become a Navy captain, training and leading a crew of former convicts.

When the war was over, Portsmouth housed the surrendering German crew of four U-boats. They were treated harshly while there, and the correctional officers looted all of their possessions. Reports say that the German commanding officer, Friedrich Steinhoff, was even pushed to the point of committing suicide. It was only after he was transferred to Charles Street Jail that he did it, slitting his wrists with broken glass. When officials found him, it was already too late. He died on his way to the Massachusetts General Hospital.

In 1974, near the end of the Vietnam War, it was decided that Portsmouth Prison was no longer needed. Rendered obsolete, it was decommissioned by the end of the year and the remaining 300 inmates were transferred to other correctional facilities. After 66 years, four wars, and over 83,000 prisoners who came and went, Portsmouth’s final chapter was written.

Now this gigantic building remains dormant, in a state of despair and entropy. All plans for redevelopment have so far had failed, and for whatever reason the prison’s demolition is out of the question. It is closed to the general public and the area is designated as toxic because the materials used to build Portsmouth (asbestos, lead paint, and other chemicals) are banned in the United States.

Related story from us: Missouri State Penitentiary: Some of the tours of infamous prison led by former inmates

So we must wait and see what the future holds for this historic building. But no matter what, one thing is certain: Portsmouth Naval Prison cemented its place in American history. And whether all the stories told are true or not, now they’ve become legends that maintain Portsmouth’s reputation as a formidable place.

These guys were not having a good time. Although unlabeled, this image matches a similar photo in Richard Winslow’s history of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard entitled "Do Your Job!" It likely shows a work detail of military prisoners, possibly from the prison ship USS Southery around 1915. (Photo and textbelow)

They appear to be working at the massive concrete "Castle" still standing on Seavey Island in Kittery. The prison was built between 1905 and 1908 on the former Revolutionary War site of Fort Sullivan. The now-abandoned prison operated for 66 years and contained about 86,000 military inmates. The popular story that the building inspired Walt Disney’s design for Cinderella’s Castle at the Magic Kingdom is not true. However, the actor Humphrey Bogart did deliver a prisoner to Portsmouth Naval Prison while serving in the Navy in WWI. Bogart himself served a brief term in stir while in the military, but not in Portsmouth. The film "The Last Detail" deals with a similar journey to the much-feared prison, but Portsmouth is not depicted in the 1973 movie. (Courtesy Strawbery Banke Collection)

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Navy prepares storied prison for next development

KITTERY, Maine — Walt Disney never served a prison sentence at the Portsmouth Naval Prison, even though local legend has it that the castle-like quality of the building served as his inspiration for the Magic Kingdom.

Actor Humphrey Bogart, however, probably does have ties to the prison. He apparently was on his way there with a prisoner, who at one point smashed him in the mouth and tried to escape. It's unknown whether Bogie actually made it to Kittery.

And as far as he knows, no ghost stories arise from within the prison walls, although many a paranormal group (politely, but firmly, turned down) have asked for access, said Portsmouth Naval Shipyard public affairs officer Gary Hildreth.

Hildreth shared these and other stories of prison history and lore Monday during a tour of the prison grounds, as the Navy readies to turn the behemoth building at the mouth of the Piscataqua River over to private hands.

The Navy is currently gathering requests for qualifications from private- and public-sector developers. It announced in March that it was interested in leasing the 265,000-square-foot building for up to 50 years.

Hildreth said that over the years, he has taken hundreds of groups on tours of the shipyard, and hands down the No. 1 attraction is the prison.

"That's the question we're always asked: 'Can we see the prison?'" he said. And for good reason. With a stunning open view to the Atlantic Ocean, the prison can be seen from Portsmouth and New Castle, N.H., and by hundreds of boaters and visitors aboard the M/V Thomas Laighton in the summer.

The Portsmouth Naval Prison was closed in 1974, but not before it incarcerated 83,607 sailors, Marines and Coast Guardsmen over the course of its 126-year history.

The reasons the shipyard was chosen by the Navy are obvious, he said. "It was on an island, and it was surrounded by treacherous waters. It made a lot of sense," he said.

The central facility built in 1908, Hildreth said, contained 302 cells, each 6 feet by 11 feet. Initially, two men were housed inside each cell. But as the prison became more and more crowded, an extra bunk was added in each cell.

The building looks like a castle, but it was intended to look imposing, not fairy tale-like.

"It was designed with the 'Fortress school' of prison architecture in mind, popular in the 19th century," Hildreth said. "Its appearance emphasized the 'security and punitive nature' of imprisonment and it was designed to emanate 'misery behind its walls.'"

As the country entered World War II, the northeast wing and the southwest wing were added in 1942 and 1943, respectively, he said.

"It was the war, and not everyone behaved in the war," he said. He told a story about a reunion of prison guards in 2008, on the 100th anniversary. He saw a man smoking a cigarette and coughing. When Hildreth approached him, he said he was not a guard but an inmate at the prison.

"He said he was on guard duty one night and snuck away to have a smoke. He was caught, and he came here for eight months," he said.

Between September and December 1943, the prison population skyrocketed from 601 to 1,998. At its peak, 3,088 prisoners were there.

It was also a model of prison reform, Hildreth said.

"It was one of the first prisons in the country that realized prisoners had to be rehabilitated. They taught them skills like woodworking and bookbinding. There was a tailor shop, a cobbler. They wanted the prisoners to have skills when they got out," he said.

After the war, however, the prison population dwindled, and by 1973, the Navy determined the prison was no longer cost-effective and began decommissioning it.

The prison has been sitting empty since 1974. The leasing business will have significant work to do to get it in shape. The building has asbestos and lead paint, at the very least, and all cost of removal must be borne by the lessee.

Because it's eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, the prison can't be torn down, either, and any renovations have to comply with the National Historic Preservation Act.

The Navy is accepting requests for qualifications through July 31 and will then take several months to review the proposals, said Tom Kreidel, public information officer for Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Mid-Atlantic, which is overseeing the process.

This will not be the first time the Navy has tried to find a tenant. Attempts in the late 1990s and in 2008 were unsuccessful.

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Mark Aiksnoras of Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport’s Undersea Warfare Electromagnetic Systems Department gives a tour to a submarine maintenance crew from Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, on March 20, 2024. Thirty-two shipyard supervisors visited Division Newport for a weeklong team-building experience in preparation for maintenance and modernization during a dry-docking of the Virginia-class submarine USS Washington (SSN-787). 

• (Photo by Richard Allen, Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport)
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Portsmouth Naval Shipyard employees visit NUWC Division Newport for tours, briefings

• By Public Affairs Office Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport
• Apr 18, 2024

NEWPORT, R.I. — A crew from the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, visited the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport on March 20 to learn more about the operations at the warfare center and how collaborations between the two U.S. Navy organizations can be strengthened.

The 32 “zone” supervisors who visited are part of the extended dry-docking selected restricted availability (EDSRA) team for the Virginia-class USS Washington (SSN-787).

“Division Newport is showing the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard team some of the systems and components they’ll be dealing with when the USS Washington enters the yard, and also introducing them to our team of experts the shipyard can draw on if they run into difficulties during the availability,” said Patrick Roach, a NUWC Division Newport customer advocate for in-service submarines. “Getting to know each other will allow each team to understand the capabilities and constraints of the other, which will make acting together when issues arise smoother and more productive.”

The visit to Division Newport was part of a weeklong team-building experience for the shipyard crew as it prepares for the extensive maintenance and modernization task.

“This tour and the interface with the people who work at NUWC really kind of drives home the connection piece. It builds our team beyond the USS Washington, and moves it toward the enterprise level,” said Gabe Griego, project superintendent for the visiting shipyard team. “Relationships, seeing the capabilities, understanding the purpose and goals of each organization builds toward the goal of undersea dominance.”

Deputy Technical Director John Babb opened March 20’s agenda by giving an overview of Division Newport’s operations, including its workforce breakdown, seven technical departments and 10 science and technology focus areas.

Julie Kallfelz, director of the Northeast Tech Bridge, then spoke about how the Naval X Tech Bridge network can assist the shipyard with perpetual issues it might be experiencing. Kallfelz explained how she and Shane Comer, the operations manager for the shipyard’s Innovation Department, already are collaborating on a number of projects.

“If you’re running into problems, if there are things that are slowing you down and it’s not as fast or as efficient as it should be, that’s what the Tech Bridge is here for,” Kallfelz said. “We’re here to help support the shipyards in the work that they do in order to get the ships in and out faster.”

The shipyard crew was split into four smaller groups that rotated through tours of Division Newport facilities.

“We wanted to make their team aware of our extensive experience, and that we have personnel at other shipyards daily supporting the yards with maintenance and overhaul of these exact systems,” said Joe Carreiro of Division Newport’s Undersea Warfare Payloads and Platforms Integration Department, who led one tour. “You cannot underestimate the value of speaking face to face with the people who have hands-on experience with this equipment. These tours provide an opportunity for us to share the experiences, problems and solutions that we have come across and to understand the issues they have.”

David Hart, head of the Towed and Deployed Arrays Engineering Branch in the Sensors and Sonar Systems Department, detailed the technology behind the various towed array systems and explained the work being done at the Naval Array Technical Support Center, which is responsible for diagnostic testing, repair and design improvement for all in-service Navy submarine and surface ship towed arrays and tow cables.

With Division Newport and the shipyard working collectively, the fleet will be better positioned to continue its mission, Roach said.

“The shipyards contribute by performing heavy maintenance and modernization of the submarines and returning them to the fleet,” he said. “Anything we can do to help the shipyard attain their goal of on-time delivery increases the number of submarines the Navy will have when we need them.”

NUWC Newport is the oldest warfare center in the country, tracing its heritage to the Naval Torpedo Station established on Goat Island in Newport Harbor in 1869. Commanded by Capt. Chad Hennings, NUWC Newport maintains major detachments in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Andros Island in the Bahamas, as well as test facilities at Seneca Lake and Fisher’s Island, New York, Leesburg, Florida, and Dodge Pond, Connecticut.

Join our team! NUWC Division Newport, one of the 20 largest employers in Rhode Island, employs a diverse, highly trained, educated, and skilled workforce. We are continuously looking for engineers, scientists, and other STEM professionals, as well as talented business, finance, logistics and other support experts who wish to be at the forefront of undersea research and development. Please connect with NUWC Division Newport Recruiting at this site- https://www.navsea.navy.mil/Home/Warfare-Centers/NUWC-Newport/Career-Opportunities/ and follow us on LinkedIn @NUWC-Newport and on Facebook @NUWCNewport

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Have you ever gazed over the river and wondered about the historic Portsmouth Naval Shipyard? Do you have relatives who may have worked there, or served on a submarine stationed there for repairs? Have you ever been curious about the naval prison? Would you like to see the Russo-Japanese Peace Treaty signing room?  This month we are taking a tour, and look forward to hosting this exciting event with the staff of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard!

Joe Gluckert, Shipyard Historian, as well as some of Joe's PNS colleagues, will lead two tours departing from the Portsmouth Public Library. We will visit the Shipyard Museum, have a general tour of the shipyard, and view the room where dignitaries from Russia, Japan, and the United States gathered to sign the Russo-Japanese Peace Treaty in 1905.  The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is the nation's longest continuously operating Navy Shipyard, so you won't want to miss the opportunity to visit and experience 223 years of history.

There are two sessions, one at 1 PM and another at 3 PM. Registration is required and space is limited. Please only register for one session. This is a rain-or-shine event. Please dress appropriately and be prepared to do a bit of walking and standing. 

Participants will meet on the bricks in front of the library and board a shuttle bus that will take them across the Memorial Bridge for a special guided tour of PNS !

Please note:  You must be a U.S. citizen to attend the tour. Due to security precautions, all participants will require prior clearance to visit the Shipyard, and the library must provide names and addresses for each participant one week before our visits. On the day of the visits, all participants will be required to show identification to board the shuttle. Acceptable identification includes a driver's license, state-issued ID, or passport.

Registration is required. Space is limited. Open to adults and teens with appropriate ID.

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Protests, poisoning and prison: The life of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny

FILE - In this photo provided by the Moscow City Court, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny makes a heart gesture standing in a cage during a hearing in Moscow, Russia on Feb. 3, 2021. Navalny is due to hear the verdict Friday Aug. 4, 2023 in his latest trial on extremism charges. The prosecution has demanded a 20-year prison sentence, and the politician himself said he expects a lengthy prison term. (Moscow City Court via AP, File)

FILE - Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny gestures as he stands behind a glass panel of a cage in the Babuskinsky District Court in Moscow, Russia, on Feb. 20, 2021. Navalny is due to hear the verdict Friday Aug. 4, 2023 in his latest trial on extremism charges. The prosecution has demanded a 20-year prison sentence, and the politician himself said he expects a lengthy prison term. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

FILE - Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny looks at photographers from behind a glass cage in the Babuskinsky District Court in Moscow, Russia, on Feb. 20, 2021. Navalny due to hear the verdict Friday Aug. 4, 2023 in his latest trial on extremism charges. The prosecution has demanded a 20-year prison sentence, and the politician himself said he expects a lengthy prison term. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

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LONDON (AP) — In a span of a decade, Alexei Navalny has gone from the Kremlin’s biggest foe to Russia’s most prominent political prisoner .

Already serving two convictions that have landed him in prison for at least nine years, he stands a new trial that could keep him behind bars for two more decades.

The verdict in the trial is due to be announced Friday in a makeshift courtroom in the Penal Colony No. 6, where Navalny is being held and where the trial took place behind closed doors, in the town of Melekhovo, about 230 kilometers (over 140 miles) east of Moscow.

Here’s a look at Navalny’s life, political activism and the charges he has faced through the years:

June 4, 1976 — Navalny is born in a western part of the Moscow region.

1997 — Graduates from Russia’s RUDN university, where he majored in law; earns a degree in economics in 2001 while working as a lawyer.

2004 — Forms a movement against rampant overdevelopment in Moscow, according to his campaign website.

2008 — Gains notoriety for alleging corruption in state-run corporations, such as gas giant Gazprom and oil behemoth Rosneft, through his blogs and other posts.

2010 — Founds RosPil, an anti-corruption project run by a team of lawyers that analyzes spending of state agencies and companies, exposing violations and contesting them in court.

2011 — Establishes the Foundation for Fighting Corruption, which will become his team’s main platform for exposing alleged graft among Russia’s top political ranks.

December 2011 — Participates in mass protests sparked by reports of widespread rigging of Russia’s parliamentary election, and is arrested and jailed for 15 days for “defying a government official.” March 2012 — Following President Vladimir Putin’s reelection and inauguration, mass protests break out in Moscow and elsewhere. Navalny accuses key figures, including then-Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov and Chechnya’s strongman leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, of corruption.

July 2012 — Russia’s Investigative Committee charges Navalny with embezzlement involving Kirovles, a state-owned timber company in the Kirov region, while acting as an adviser to the local governor. Navalny rejects the allegations as politically motivated.

December 2012 — The Investigative Committee launches another probe into alleged embezzlement at a Navalny-linked Russian subsidiary of Yves Rocher, a French cosmetics company. Navalny again says the allegations are politically motivated.

2013 — Navalny runs for mayor in Moscow — a move the authorities not only allow but encourage in an attempt to put a veneer of democracy on the race that is designed to boost the profile of the incumbent, Sergei Sobyanin.

July 2013 — A court in Kirov convicts Navalny of embezzlement in the Kirovles case, sentencing him to five years in prison. The prosecution petitions to release Navalny from custody pending his appeal, and he resumes his campaign.

September 2013 — Official results show Navalny finishes second in the mayor’s race behind Sobyanin, with 27% of the vote, after a successful electoral and fundraising campaign collecting an unprecedented 97.3 million rubles ($2.9 million) from individual supporters.

October 2013 — A court hands Navalny a suspended sentence in the Kirovles case. February 2014 — Navalny is placed under house arrest in connection with the Yves Rocher case and banned from using the internet. His blog continues to be updated regularly, presumably by his team, detailing alleged corruption by various Russian officials.

December 2014 — Navalny and his brother, Oleg, are found guilty of fraud in the Yves Rocher case. Navalny receives a 3 ½-year suspended sentence, while his brother is handed a prison term. Both appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

December 2015 — Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption releases its first long-form video — a YouTube documentary called “Chaika,” which means “seagull” in Russian but is also the last name of then-Prosecutor General Yury Chaika. The 44-minute video accuses him of corruption and alleged ties to a notorious criminal group and has piled up 26 million views on YouTube. Chaika and other Russian officials deny the accusations.

February 2016 — The European Court of Human Rights rules that Russia violated Navalny’s right to a fair trial in the Kirovles case, ordering the government to pay his legal costs and damages.

November 2016 — Russia’s Supreme Court overturns Navalny’s sentence and sends the case back to the original court in the city of Kirov for review.

December 2016 — Navalny announces he will run in Russia’s 2018 presidential election.

February 2017 — The Kirov court retries Navalny and upholds his five-year suspended sentence from 2013.

March 2017 — Navalny releases a YouTube documentary accusing then-Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev of corruption, getting over 7 million views in its first week. A series of anti-graft protests across Russia draw tens of thousands and there are mass arrests. Navalny tours the country to open campaign offices, holds big rallies and is jailed repeatedly for unauthorized demonstrations.

April 27, 2017 — Unidentified assailants throw a green disinfectant in his face, damaging his right eye. He blames the attack on the Kremlin.

October 2017 — The European Court of Human Rights finds Navalny’s fraud conviction in the Yves Rocher case to be “arbitrary and manifestly unreasonable.”

December 2017 — Russia’s Central Electoral Commission bars him from running for president over his conviction in the Kirovles case, a move condemned by the EU as casting “serious doubt” on the election. July 2019 — Members of Navalny’s team, along with other opposition activists, are barred from running for Moscow city council, sparking protests that are violently dispersed, with thousands arrested. Navalny’s team responds by promoting the “Smart Voting” strategy, encouraging the election of any candidate except those from the Kremlin’s United Russia party. The strategy works, with the party losing its majority. 2020 — Navalny seeks to deploy the Smart Voting strategy during regional elections in September and tours Siberia as part of the effort.

Aug. 20, 2020 — On a flight from the city of Tomsk, where he was working with local activists, Navalny falls ill and the plane makes an emergency landing in nearby Omsk. Hospitalized in a coma, Navalny’s team suspects he was poisoned.

Aug. 22, 2020 — A comatose Navalny is flown to a hospital in Berlin.

Aug. 24, 2020 — German authorities confirm Navalny was poisoned with a Soviet-era nerve agent. After he recovers, he blames the Kremlin, an accusation denied by Russian officials.

Jan. 17, 2021 — After five months in Germany, Navalny is arrested upon his return to Russia , with authorities alleging his recuperation abroad violated the terms of his suspended sentence in the Yves Rocher case. His arrest triggers some of the biggest protests in Russia in years. Thousands are arrested.

Feb. 2, 2021 — A Moscow court orders Navalny to serve 2 ½ years in prison for his parole violation. While in prison, Navalny stages a three-week hunger strike to protest a lack of medical treatment and sleep deprivation.

June 2021 — A Moscow court outlaws Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption and about 40 regional offices as extremist, shutting down his political network. Close associates and team members face prosecution and leave Russia under pressure. Navalny maintains contact with his lawyers and team from prison, and they update his social media accounts.

Feb. 24, 2022 — Russia invades Ukraine . Navalny condemns the war in social media posts from prison and during his court appearances.

March 22, 2022 — Navalny is sentenced to an additional nine-year term for embezzlement and contempt of court in a case his supporters rejected as fabricated. He is transferred to a maximum-security prison in Russia’s western Vladimir region.

July 2022 — Navalny’s team announces the relaunch of the Anti-Corruption Foundation as an international organization with an advisory board including Francis Fukuyama, Anne Applebaum, and the European Parliament member and former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt. Navalny continues to file lawsuits in prison and tries to form a labor union in the facility. In response, penitentiary officials start regularly placing him in solitary confinement over purported disciplinary violations such as failing to properly button his garment or to wash his face at a specified time.

2023 — Over 400 Russian doctors sign an open letter to Putin, urging an end to what it calls abuse of Navalny, following reports that he was denied basic medication after getting the flu. His team expresses concern about his health, saying in April he had acute stomach pain and suspected he was being slowly poisoned.

March 12, 2023 — “Navalny,” a film about the attempt on the opposition leader’s life, wins the Oscar for best documentary feature.

April 26, 2023 — Appearing on a videolink from prison during a hearing, Navalny says he was facing new extremism and terrorism charges that could keep him behind bars for the rest of his life. He adds sardonically that the charges imply that “I’m conducting terror attacks while sitting in prison.”

June 19, 2023 — The trial begins in a make-shift courtroom in the Penal Colony No. 6 where Navalny is being held. Soon after it starts, the judge closes the trial for the public and the media despite Navalny’s demand to keep it open.

July 20, 2023 — The prosecution in its closing arguments asks the court to sentence Navalny to 20 years in prison , the politician’s team reports. Navalny says in a subsequent statement that he expects his sentence to be “huge … a Stalinist term,” referring to the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.

Litvinova reported from Tallinn, Estonia.

Protests, poisoning, and prison: A timeline of the life and death of Alexei Navalny

Alexei Navalny, Russia’s top opposition leader and President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest foe, died in prison on Friday, a statement from the Federal Penitentiary Service said.

Navalny, who was serving a 19-year sentence on charges of extremism, felt unwell after a walk and collapsed, it said. The politician’s team had no immediate confirmation of his death.

Navalny was moved in December from his former prison in central Russia to to a “special regime” penal colony — the highest security level of prisons in Russia — above the Arctic Circle.

In a span of a decade, he went from being the Kremlin’s biggest foe to Russia’s most prominent political prisoner.

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Here’s a look at key events in Navalny’s life, political activism and the charges he has faced through the years:

June 4, 1976 — Navalny is born in a western part of the Moscow region.

1997 — Graduates from Russia’s RUDN university, where he majored in law; earns a degree in economics in 2001 while working as a lawyer.

2004 — Forms a movement against rampant overdevelopment in Moscow, according to his campaign website.

2008 — Gains notoriety for alleging corruption in state-run corporations, such as gas giant Gazprom and oil behemoth Rosneft, through his blogs and other posts.

2010 — Founds RosPil, an anti-corruption project run by a team of lawyers that analyzes spending of state agencies and companies, exposing violations and contesting them in court.

2011 — Establishes the Foundation for Fighting Corruption, which will become his team’s main platform for exposing alleged graft among Russia’s top political ranks.

December 2011 — Participates in mass protests sparked by reports of widespread rigging of Russia’s parliamentary election, and is arrested and jailed for 15 days for “defying a government official.”

March 2012 — Following President Vladimir Putin’s reelection and inauguration, mass protests break out in Moscow and elsewhere. Navalny accuses key figures, including then-Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov and Chechnya’s strongman leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, of corruption.

July 2012 — Russia’s Investigative Committee charges Navalny with embezzlement involving Kirovles, a state-owned timber company in the Kirov region, while acting as an adviser to the local governor. Navalny rejects the allegations as politically motivated.

December 2012 — The Investigative Committee launches another probe into alleged embezzlement at a Navalny-linked Russian subsidiary of Yves Rocher, a French cosmetics company. Navalny again says the allegations are politically motivated.

2013 — Navalny runs for mayor in Moscow — a move the authorities not only allow but encourage in an attempt to put a veneer of democracy on the race that is designed to boost the profile of the incumbent, Sergei Sobyanin.

July 2013 — A court in Kirov convicts Navalny of embezzlement in the Kirovles case, sentencing him to five years in prison. The prosecution petitions to release Navalny from custody pending his appeal, and he resumes his campaign.

September 2013 — Official results show Navalny finishes second in the mayor’s race behind Sobyanin, with 27% of the vote, after a successful electoral and fundraising campaign collecting an unprecedented 97.3 million rubles ($2.9 million) from individual supporters.

October 2013 — A court hands Navalny a suspended sentence in the Kirovles case.

February 2014 — Navalny is placed under house arrest in connection with the Yves Rocher case and banned from using the internet. His blog continues to be updated regularly, presumably by his team, detailing alleged corruption by various Russian officials.

December 2014 — Navalny and his brother, Oleg, are found guilty of fraud in the Yves Rocher case. Navalny receives a 3 ½-year suspended sentence, while his brother is handed a prison term. Both appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

December 2015 — Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption releases its first long-form video — a YouTube documentary called “Chaika,” which means “seagull” in Russian but is also the last name of then-Prosecutor General Yury Chaika. The 44-minute video accuses him of corruption and alleged ties to a notorious criminal group and has piled up 26 million views on YouTube. Chaika and other Russian officials deny the accusations.

February 2016 — The European Court of Human Rights rules that Russia violated Navalny’s right to a fair trial in the Kirovles case, ordering the government to pay his legal costs and damages.

November 2016 — Russia’s Supreme Court overturns Navalny’s sentence and sends the case back to the original court in the city of Kirov for review.

December 2016 — Navalny announces he will run in Russia’s 2018 presidential election.

February 2017 — The Kirov court retries Navalny and upholds his five-year suspended sentence from 2013.

March 2017 — Navalny releases a YouTube documentary accusing then-Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev of corruption, getting over seven million views in its first week. A series of anti-graft protests across Russia draw tens of thousands and there are mass arrests. Navalny tours the country to open campaign offices, holds big rallies and is jailed repeatedly for unauthorized demonstrations.

April 27, 2017 — Unidentified assailants throw a green disinfectant in his face, damaging his right eye. He blames the attack on the Kremlin.

October 2017 — The European Court of Human Rights finds Navalny’s fraud conviction in the Yves Rocher case to be “arbitrary and manifestly unreasonable.”

December 2017 — Russia’s Central Electoral Commission bars him from running for president over his conviction in the Kirovles case, a move condemned by the EU as casting “serious doubt” on the election.

July 2019 — Members of Navalny’s team, along with other opposition activists, are barred from running for Moscow city council, sparking protests that are violently dispersed, with thousands arrested. Navalny’s team responds by promoting the “Smart Voting” strategy, encouraging the election of any candidate except those from the Kremlin’s United Russia party. The strategy works, with the party losing its majority.

2020 — Navalny seeks to deploy the Smart Voting strategy during regional elections in September and tours Siberia as part of the effort.

Aug. 20, 2020 — On a flight from the city of Tomsk, where he was working with local activists, Navalny falls ill and the plane makes an emergency landing in nearby Omsk. Hospitalized in a coma, Navalny’s team suspects he was poisoned.

Aug. 22, 2020 — A comatose Navalny is flown to a hospital in Berlin.

Aug. 24, 2020 — German authorities confirm Navalny was poisoned with a Soviet-era nerve agent. After he recovers, he blames the Kremlin, an accusation denied by Russian officials.

Jan. 17, 2021 — After five months in Germany, Navalny is arrested upon his return to Russia, with authorities alleging his recuperation abroad violated the terms of his suspended sentence in the Yves Rocher case. His arrest triggers some of the biggest protests in Russia in years. Thousands are arrested.

Feb. 2, 2021 — A Moscow court orders Navalny to serve 2 ½ years in prison for his parole violation. While in prison, Navalny stages a three-week hunger strike to protest a lack of medical treatment and sleep deprivation.

June 2021 — A Moscow court outlaws Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption and about 40 regional offices as extremist, shutting down his political network. Close associates and team members face prosecution and leave Russia under pressure. Navalny maintains contact with his lawyers and team from prison, and they update his social media accounts.

Feb. 24, 2022 — Russia invades Ukraine. Navalny condemns the war in social media posts from prison and during his court appearances.

March 22, 2022 — Navalny is sentenced to an additional nine-year term for embezzlement and contempt of court in a case his supporters rejected as fabricated. He is transferred to a maximum-security prison in Russia’s western Vladimir region.

July 2022 — Navalny’s team announces the relaunch of the Anti-Corruption Foundation as an international organization with an advisory board including Francis Fukuyama, Anne Applebaum, and the European Parliament member and former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt. Navalny continues to file lawsuits in prison and tries to form a labor union in the facility. Officials respond by regularly placing him in solitary confinement over purported disciplinary violations such as failing to properly button his garment or to wash his face at a specified time.

2023 — Over 400 Russian doctors sign an open letter to Putin, urging an end to what it calls abuse of Navalny, following reports that he was denied basic medication after getting the flu. His team expresses concern about his health, saying in April he had acute stomach pain and suspected he was being slowly poisoned.

March 12, 2023 — “Navalny,” a film about the attempt on the opposition leader’s life, wins the Oscar for best documentary feature.

April 26, 2023 — Appearing on a video link from prison during a hearing, Navalny says he was facing new extremism and terrorism charges that could keep him behind bars for the rest of his life. He adds sardonically that the charges imply that “I’m conducting terror attacks while sitting in prison.”

June 19, 2023 — The trial begins in a makeshift courtroom in the Penal Colony No. 6 where Navalny is held. Soon after it starts, the judge closes the trial to the public and media despite Navalny’s objections.

July 20, 2023 — In closing arguments, the prosecution asks the court to sentence Navalny to 20 years in prison, his team reports. Navalny says in a subsequent statement that he expects his sentence to be “huge … a Stalinist term,” referring to Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

Aug. 4, 2023 — Navalny is convicted of extremism and sentenced to 19 years, and he says he understands he’s “serving a life sentence, which is measured by the length of my life or the length of life of this regime.”

Oct. 13, 2023 — Authorities detain three lawyers representing Navalny after searching their homes, and his ally Ivan Zhdanov says on social media the move is a bid to “completely isolate Navalny.” The raids targeting Vadim Kobzev, Igor Sergunin and Alexei Liptser are part of a criminal case on charges of participating in an extremist group, Zhdanov says. Navalny’s spokesperson says if the opposition leader has no access to lawyers, “he will end up in complete isolation, the kind no one can really even imagine.”

Dec. 2, 2023 — New charges are filed against Navalny. In comments passed to associates, Navalny says he has been charged under Article 214 of the penal code, covering vandalism. “I don’t even know whether to describe my latest news as sad, funny or absurd,” he writes on social media via his team. “I have no idea what Article 214 is, and there’s nowhere to look. You’ll know before I do.”

Dec. 7, 2023 — Navalny’s team erects billboards across Russia featuring QR codes that lead smartphones to a hidden website urging Russians to take part in a campaign against Putin, who is expected to run for reelection in March 2024. Navalny’s team say the vote is important for Putin as a referendum on his war in Ukraine, rather than a real contest for the presidency.

Dec. 11, 2023 — Navalny is scheduled to appear in court via video link but does not appear, and his spokeswoman says prison officials are citing electricity problems. Navalny’s allies express concern, saying neither they nor his lawyers have heard from him in several weeks.

Dec. 25, 2023 — Navalny’s allies say he’s been located in a prison colony in the town of Kharp, north of the Arctic Circle, notorious for long and severe winters. It’s about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Vorkuta, whose coal mines were among the harshest of the Soviet Gulag prison-camp system.

Jan. 10 — Navalny appears via video link from Kharp for the first time. Russian news outlets release images of him in black prison garb and with a buzz cut, on a live TV feed from the “special regime” penal colony in Kharp, about 1,900 kilometers (1,200 miles) northeast of Moscow. At the hearing, Navalny cracks jokes about Arctic weather and asks if officials at his former prison threw a party when he was transferred.

Feb. 16 — Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service says Navalny died in prison at the age of 47. It says he felt unwell after a walk and collapsed. An ambulance arrived but could not resuscitate him. Navalny’s team says it has no confirmation of his death and that his lawyer is on the way to the Kharp penal colony.