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Drone Captures Views Of Abandoned Tenn. Prison

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The state Department of Correction has released a new video featuring drone footage of the old Tennessee State Prison that was forced to close 24 years ago because of inhumane conditions.

The Romanesque prison was a favorite film location until its deterioration made it too dangerous for big productions. The fortress-like facility served as a backdrop for "Walk the Line" and "The Green Mile" among many others.

The 17-minute video released on the department's YouTube page featured soaring images of both the interior and exterior of the crumbling prison that once held the assassin of Martin Luther King Jr.

Opened in 1898, the structure was so imposing that inmates nicknamed it simply "The Walls." The 120-acre campus on the banks of the Cumberland River was shuttered in 1992.