Tag: Eastern State Penitentiary

This doesn’t look as frightening as I’m sure that it once did, but it was the toughest area of the prison and was used as a punishment block. It was also known as ‘the Hole’ and ‘Klondike’ and there were ten cells which were mostly without light. Although the walls between the cells are no longer present, it’s possible to see where they were once located.

This appears to be the only cell which remains standing with its walls intact, with the area being closed down in 1959 due to concerns about the conditions here. It was then used for storage until 1970 and then fell into disrepair. It’s said that this is one of the areas of the prison where hauntings are noted…..

The impressive backdrop of Eastern State Penitentiary has appeared in numerous films. I didn’t know this, but the above sign in the prison noted that the below films have sections filmed there:

(i) 12 Monkeys

(ii) Transformers 2 : Revenge of the Fallen

(iii) Return to Paradise

(iv) Outside the Wall

The last film is perhaps one of the most interesting (not that I’ve actually seen the film) as it was filmed when the prison was still in use.

All of the ground floor cells at Eastern State Penitentiary were originally linked to a private exercise yard. Prisoners could access this for 30 minutes twice a day, although otherwise they had to remain in their cell. Eventually this policy fell out of favour and the exercise yards were either repurposed or demolished.

This exercise yard is one of the very few which has survived with its original walls, solely because it was later used as a bathroom for the neighbouring exercise yard. The doors to the exercise yard are still though visible at the rear of most cells as they were just blocked off.

The decision to leave the Eastern State Penitentiary in a state of ruin was deliberate, as it was left for two decades and some of its copper and valuables were stolen over the years. When a decision was made to turn it into a museum the site was cleared down, primarily of trees which had started to take over the buildings, but it was felt that repairing the damage wouldn’t be authentic.

This has left the prison in a state of ruin in parts, although efforts are made to try to minimise the decay and some sections have been secured to ensure their preservation.

 

In some of the cells at the Eastern State Penitentiary there are art installations of various different kinds. Created by local artist Tyler Held, this is perhaps one of the most ambitious, as it involved getting an entire car into the cell. The car has been stripped down of any identity, which is the purpose behind the installation, it’s to show that prison life can strip the individual of their identity and individuality.

This was one of the highlights of my trip to Philadelphia, a trip to the Eastern State Penitentiary. It was opened in 1829 and was designed to be a forward thinking new approach to prison design, with help being offered to prisoners rather than them just being punished. As usual with these things, eventually more prisoners were crammed into the prison and the initial pioneering strategies were mostly lost.

The exterior of the prison was though always designed to look austere and when it opened the building was some way from the city centre and stood out like a castle. Quite a scary castle….

The castle like protection is visible from the exterior of the prison, but it’s all fake. The slit windows in the main wall are just a front and the crenellations are just decorative.

The inside of the wall, with no slit windows showing through.

One of the numerous prison wings, the first ones were single storey but double storeys were added later on. The prison was closed in 1971 and the intention was to demolish it to build residential units or a shopping centre. It was left to go to ruin for two decades before a decision was made to turn it into a museum. The above photo shows one of the few sections which have been repaired, but the rest is being left.

One of the two storey prison wings.

Inside one of the cells and there were hundreds of these to look at. The closed off section at the back is what led into a small exercise yard, a pioneering idea which gave each prisoner an exercise area and they could even use part of it as a small garden. They were later all sealed up though when things got tougher. The cells all had toilets right from when they were constructed, which was well ahead of its time, and they actually had running toilets before the President of the United States as plumbing wasn’t added to the White House until 1833.

I thought this was a fascinating site and I spent nearly three hours here exploring everything. I managed to take nearly 300 photos, so at some point I’ll post more photos of the prison. I’m not usually a fan of audio tours, but this one worked well, a short introduction and then visitors could use them as they felt appropriate whilst they explored the prison.