 |
| Eastern State Penitentiary |
The penal system in the Early American Republic was in a state of transition. As a legacy from the colonial past, the thirteen new United States had inherited a hotchpotch of laws and a system of often draconian corporal punishments. Influenced by the thinking of the Enlightenment, and inspired by Quaker belief in the perfectibility of man, leaders in Philadelphia devised the Pennsylvania System, a reform idea that would lead to the creation of a prison, the largest and most costly of its time. That prison would become a model for the rest of the world, and, depending on one's point of view, either an inspiring model of forward-thinking social engineering, or a horrible example of human cruelty disguised as kindness. In the 142 years of Eastern State Penitentiary's history as a prison, untold numbers of inmates would be immured in silence, cut off completely from the rest of humanity and tortured into insanity by isolation, in the name of reform and rehabilitation.
Before its final decommissioning in 1971, Eastern State would inspire Alexis de Tocqueville, horrify Charles Dickens, play host to the likes of Al Capone and Willie Sutton, and supply fodder for numerous Philadelphia ghost stories. In its post-penal phase, it would experience a second career as tourist attraction, performance-art venue, and Bastille Day re-enactment site.
