On Sept. 13, Old New-Gate Prison and Copper Mine was inducted as a Connecticut Freedom Trail site commemorating Prince Mortimer. The Connecticut Freedom Trail is a cohort of more than 160 sites across 70 Connecticut towns and works to celebrate the resilience and spirit of African American communities and history. The Old New-Gate Prison site commemorates the life of Prince Mortimer who was inhumanely imprisoned at New-Gate from 1811 to 1827.
As a boy, Prince was captured on the coast of Guinea, enslaved in Middletown, Conn., and purchased by Phillip Mortimer. When Mortimer died in 1794, his will stated that Prince was to be freed but the will was contested and overthrown by his son-in-law, George Starr. In 1811, Prince was accused of attempting to poison Starr, convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. When New-Gate closed, he was transferred to the Wethersfield Prison where he died at the age of 110.