Eastern State Penitentiary

Eastern State Penitentiary opened in 1829, it aimed to reform criminals through isolation and once built, it was the most expensive construction in the United States at the time. This was down to the fact that every cell was built for one inmate, with their own person outdoor exercise area. The prison soon became full and the one person one cell rule was soon gone, in favour of mass incarceration. Eastern State finally closed its doors as a prison in 1971.

During its 142 years in use, it has had many inmates including none other than Al Capone who, after visiting a cinema in Philadelphia, was arrested for having a concealed firearm, he was sentenced to one year in prison.

Also Pep the dog, who was imprisoned by the Governor for killing his cat… or so the story goes, no one is quite sure why the dog ended its days at the prison. Though people believe it was due to the prison needing some positive light after a lot of bad press.

Another interesting prison tale is the 1945 Prison Escape, when Clarence Klinedinst starting digging a tunnel, he dug 4.5 metres down and 30 metres under the prison and popped out just outside the prison. Him and 11 other inmates then escaped but it didn’t last long, they were round up within a few hours. The final inmate came back a day later, knocking on the doors of the prison because he was hungry!

The prisons isolation experiment soon fell out of favour due to money, it was far too expensive and the so called “New York” method of mass incarceration became the standard in the United States.Read more