The Eastern State Penitentiary (ESP) is a former American prison in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is located in the Fairmount section of the city, and was operational from 1829 until 1971.
The penitentiary refined the revolutionary system of separate incarceration, first pioneered at the Walnut Street Jail, which emphasized principles of reform rather than punishment.Paul Kahan, Eastern State Penitentiary: A History (Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2008)
Notorious criminals such as Al Capone and bank robber Willie Sutton were held inside its innovative wagon wheel design.
For their role in the Kelayres massacre of 1934, James Bruno (Big Joe) and several male relatives were incarcerated here between 1936 and 1948, before they were paroled.King of the Mountain The Bruno Family Story by Bruce Boyd 2016
At its completion, the building was the largest and most expensive public structure ever erected in the United States,Johnston, Norman. Eastern State Penitentiary: Crucible of Good Intentions. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1994. and quickly became a model for more than 300 prisons worldwide.
The prison is currently a U.S. National Historic Landmark, which offers self-guided audio tours, guide-led tours, and other visitor programs.
History 19th century
Eatern State Penitentiary was built on an eleven-acre property locally known as Cherry Hill, which the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania purchased in 1821.Construction of the penitentiary began in 1822.
Designed by John Haviland and opened on October 25, 1829, Eastern State is considered to be the world's first true penitentiary, with seven corridors of heated and sky-lighted cells capable of holding 500 convicts in isolation.
Eastern State's revolutionary system of incarceration, dubbed the "Pennsylvania system" or separate system, encouraged separate confinement as a form of rehabilitation. The warden was legally required to visit every inmate every day, and the overseers were mandated to see each inmate three times a day.
Women were incarcerated at the prison beginning in 1831. By 1836, the female population had grown to 19, and the women were housed in the upper gallery of cellblock 7.
The Pennsylvania system was opposed contemporaneously by the Auburn system (also known as the New York system), which held that prisoners should be forced to work together in silence, and could be subjected to physical punishment (Sing Sing prison was an example of the Auburn system). Although the Auburn system was favored in the United States, Eastern State's radial floor plan and system of solitary confinement was the model for over 300 prisons worldwide.
Critic and activist John Neal in 1841 expressed revulsion at the international reputation of "a nation that broke away from all its bands and fetters, only fifty or sixty years ago — overthrowing prisons, palaces, and thrones in her march toward universal emancipation, already renowned throughout the whole earth, for her prisons, her manacles, and her badges of servitude."
In 1854, Eastern State hired its first full-time school teacher.
By 1870, Eastern State housed 671 prisoners despite having only 560 cells, which contributed to the gradual breakdown of the separate confinement system.
In 1877, four additional cell blocks were constructed in between the original cellblocks but did not contain the individual exercise yards.
Originally, inmates were housed in cells that could be accessed only by entering through a small exercise yard attached to the back of the prison; only a small portal, just large enough to pass meals, opened onto the cell blocks. This design proved impractical, and in the middle of construction, cells were constructed that allowed prisoners to enter and leave the cell blocks through metal doors that were covered by a heavy wooden door to filter out noise. The halls were designed to have the feel of a church.
Some believe that the doors were small so prisoners would have a harder time getting out, minimizing an attack on an officer. Others have explained the small doors forced the prisoners to bow while entering their cell. This design is related to penance and ties to the religious inspiration of the prison. The cells were made of concrete with a single glass skylight, representing the "Eye of God", suggesting to the prisoners that God was always watching them.
Outside the cell was an individual area for exercise, enclosed by high walls so prisoners could not communicate. Exercise time for each prisoner was synchronized so no two prisoners next to each other would be out at the same time. Prisoners were allowed to garden and even keep pets in their exercise yards. When a prisoner left his cell, an accompanying guard would wrap a hood over his head to prevent him from being recognized by other prisoners.
Cell accommodations were advanced for their time, including a faucet with running water over a flush toilet, as well as curved pipes along part of one wall, which served as central heating during the winter months and through which hot water would be run through the pipes to keep the cells reasonably heated. The cast-iron toilets were flushed with water once a day.
The original design called for seven one-story cellblocks radiating from a central hub. After Cellblock 3 was completed, Cellblocks 4 through 7 were constructed with two stories to accommodate the growing prison population.
As overcrowding continued, additional cellblocks were constructed between the original blocks. Cellblock 14 was built using inmate labor and was three stories high. Cellblock 15 was designed for some of the prison’s most violent offenders and included a separate safety corridor for guards.
Eastern State originally operated under the Pennsylvania system in which prisoners were kept in individual confinement and performed labor in their cells. The system was intended to encourage prisoners to reflect on their actions, become penitent and ultimately reform.
20th century In 1923, Leo Callahan and five other prisoners escaped after overpowering guards and scaling the prison’s east wall. His accomplices were eventually recaptured but Callahan was never found. In 1924, Pennsylvania Governor Gifford Pinchot allegedly sentenced Pep "The Cat-Murdering Dog" (an actual dog) to a life sentence at Eastern State. Pep allegedly murdered the governor's wife's cherished cat. Prison records reflect that Pep was assigned an inmate number (no. C2559), which is seen in his mug shot. However, the reason for Pep's incarceration remains a subject of some debate. A contemporary newspaper article reported that the governor donated his own dog to the prison to increase inmate morale.
The Alfred W. Fleisher Synagogue was dedicated in the prison on April 21, 1929. Fleisher had served as president of the Board until his death in 1928. The dedication service was led by Congregation Mikveh Israel's Reverend Leon Elmaleh.
On April 3, 1945, a major escape was carried out by twelve inmates (including the infamous Willie Sutton), who over the course of a year managed to dig an undiscovered tunnel under the prison wall. During renovations in the 1930s an additional 30 incomplete inmate-dug tunnels were discovered.
in 1953, Eastern State Penitentiary was renamed The State Correctional Institution at Philadelphia (SCI-PHA).
Death row Cellblock 15, commonly known as Death Row, was constructed in 1956 and was the last major addition to Eastern State Penitentiary. It housed prisoners sentenced to death, although executions were not carried out at Eastern State.
On January 8, 1961, Eastern State experienced the largest riot in its history after inmates overpowered a guard and gained access to other cells. Police, prison guards and Pennsylvania State Police eventually gained back control of the prison.
It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965. and
Eastern State Penitentiary closed as a state prison in 1970, with most prisoners transferred to the State Correctional Institution at Graterford.
The City of Philadelphia briefly used the penitentiary to house county prisoners until 1971 and purchased the property in 1980. During the 1980s, proposals for redevelopment included condominiums and a shopping mall.
During the abandoned era (from closing until the late 80s) a "forest" grew in the cell blocks and outside within the walls. The prison also became home to many stray cats.
In 1988, the Eastern State Penitentiary Task Force successfully petitioned Mayor Wilson Goode to halt redevelopment. In 1994, Eastern State opened to the public for history tours.
End of the solitary confinement system
The solitary confinement system eventually collapsed due to overcrowding problems. By 1913, Eastern State officially abandoned the solitary system and operated as a congregate prison until it closed in 1970. Eastern State was briefly used to house city inmates in 1971 after a riot at Holmesburg Prison.
The prison was one of the largest public-works projects of the early republic, and was a tourist destination in the 19th century. Notable visitors included Charles Dickens and Alexis de Tocqueville, and later notable inmates included Willie Sutton and Al Capone in 1929.
Visitors spoke with prisoners in their cells, proving that inmates were not isolated, though the prisoners themselves were not allowed to have visits with family or friends during their stay.
Most of the early prisoners were petty criminals incarcerated for various robbery and theft charges (muggers, pickpockets, purse-snatchers, burglars, etc.) and the first-time offenders often served two years.
The Penitentiary was intended not simply to punish, but to move the criminal toward spiritual reflection and change. While some have argued that the Pennsylvania system was Quaker-inspired, there is little evidence to support this; the organization that promoted Eastern State's creation, the Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons (today's Pennsylvania Prison Society) was less than half Quaker, and was led for nearly fifty years by Philadelphia's Anglican bishop, William White.
Proponents of the system believed strongly that the criminals, exposed, in silence, to thoughts of their behavior and the ugliness of their crimes, would become genuinely penitent.
In reality, the guards and councilors of the facility designed a variety of physical and psychological torture regimens for various infractions, including the use of cold showers as punishment, on at least one occasion apparently administered outside during winter, using the iron gag as punishment for talking by placing an iron piece over the prisoner’s tongue and connecting it to restraints to hold the prisoner’s hands behind their back. Prisoners could also be strapped into a restraint chair so that they could not move.
Beneath Cellblock 14 were four small punishment cells, known as “the hole” or “Klondike”. The cells had low ceilings and no plumbing, and former prisoners recalled periods of confinement lasting from 10 to 30 days.
SCI Graterford opened in 1929 after disturbances occurred at Eastern State; the Pennsylvania prison board opened Graterford to assume functions previously held by Eastern State."SCI Graterford." Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. March 24, 2018. Retrieved on September 27, 2018.
In its later years, Eastern State placed increasing emphasis on group therapy. By the time the institution closed, more than 25 therapy groups were operating and correctional officers volunteered and received training to serve as co-therapists.
Architectural significance