The New York Sun, May 21-23rd 2004

Crime and Punishment:

Philadelphia's Eastern State Penitentiary Provides a Fascinating Window into American History

Tourists flocked from miles around in the mid-19thcentury to see Philadelphia's Eastern State Penitentiary, an architectural wonder that covered 11 acres and employed a controversial new system of prisoner rehabilitation through solitary confinement. In the 20th, some of the country's most notorious criminals, such as Al Capone, "Bird Man" Frank Fallon, and "Slick Willie" Sutton passed through its walls.

Today, the Eastern State Penitentiary Museum is a somber and fascinating place to visit. Although it has been restored in a few areas, most of it has been left in disrepair, and you can still see peeling frescoes from the prison chapel, a barber chair amidst a pile of rubble, and thin shafts of sunlight beaming onto skeletal remains of beds in the small prison cells. Walking down the damp cellblocks, with their vaulted ceilings and rows of metal-latticed cell doors, it feels like visiting an elegiac ruin. Historic Site Director at the penitentiary museum, Sean Kelley, explained, "We believe that the building has an authority and impact in its condition as a ruin that it would lose if restored."

Quakers involved in the prison reform movement in the early 1800s believed that humans were basically good, but could be negatively influenced by their surroundings and fall into sin. If the influence of other people was the pathway to transgression, they reasoned, then the answer to this must be solitude, which would lead to penitence. As a result, the world got its first "penitentiary."

Designed by Architect John Haviland, the Eastern State Penitentiary was constructed between 1822 and 1836, and began receiving prisoners in 1829. The prison had state-of-the-art plumbing, sewage systems, and centrally heated cells, which helped enforce a lack of contact between inmates. It cost $780,000 to build, making it one of the most expensive buildings of its day in America.

"Eastern State Penitentiary was the first building in the United States with indoor plumbing," Mr. Kelley said. "Even before the White House."

The building was meant to inspire respect and fear, both from the foreboding outside walls and watchtowers and from the interior. The architectural design of a central rotunda served as a nerve center and allowed guards to monitor the seven cellblocks built in narrow corridors circling around it.

Officials allowed inmates only a Bible to read. Prisoners could talk only with the chaplain or guards, and weren't allowed to see visitors or receive letters. This became known as the Pennsylvania System, and was immediately debated worldwide. Charles Dickens visited the penitentiary in 1842 and later wrote of it, "The System is rigid, strict and hopeless solitary confinement, and I believe it, in its effects, to be cruel and wrong."

Due to overcrowding, inmates eventually had to share cells, and by the early 20th century, the Pennsylvania System of one prisoner to a cell had become prohibitively expensive. In 1913, the system was officially abandoned at the prison. The Eastern State Penitentiary remained open until 1970, and was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1965. After its closing, the building was largely abandoned in the 1970s and 1980s, used as a storage facility for city agencies. Restoration efforts on the building began in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with private and public funding. In 1994, the penitentiary opened for daily historic tours, and the next year constructed permanent museum exhibits and began to feature temporary art exhibitions.

Today, archival photographs displayed in the cellblocks chronicle the lives of inmates in the 1800s and 1900s. A number of former inmates, prison guards, and social workers tell their stories on the tour's audiotape. Stories of some of Eastern State's most notorious prisoners are also told on the audio tour, which is narrated by actor Steve Buscemi. The cell of Al Capone has been restored to look as it did during his 1929 stay at the prison: It was reported at the time that the gangster was living in relative luxury in a cell furnished with large oriental rugs on the floor, oil paintings on the walls, and a cabinet radio.

Currently, there are installations by contemporary artists that connect the history of Eastern State with current issues in the American prison system. Ianthe Jackson created an installation of a portrait projected on the floors of cells, with eyes that rotated. She wrote that this points out, "the absence of the individual in the cell and in society."

Nick Cassway's project, "Portraits of Inmates in the Death Row Population Sentenced as Juveniles" consists of images stenciled onto steel plates using a clear paint. They depict about half of juveniles on death row today. Artist Timothy Nohe's audio installation, "142 Ways to Mark Time", are recordings of cadences made on metal, wooden benches, fallen plaster, and broken glass found in Eastern State. These are played in separate cells and the music bleeds into the hallway, creating a cacophony that's strangely upbeat. This seems to reference to the ways prisoners in solitary isolation used to communicate with one another from their separate cells without words. These exhibitions are solicited, then selected from a jury panel. They change annually.

A visit to the museum makes a great day trip from New York City, or as a destination to be added to places to visit in Philadelphia on longer trips. The museum is open April through November, Wednesdays through Sundays, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Last Entry: 4 p.m.). Children under the age of 7 are not allowed on the site. Tour guides are available for pre-scheduled groups. The museum is closed from December through March except for private tours.

For travel directions and museum information go to www.easternstate.org or call 215-236-3300 for ticket reservations.