The Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia became the template for prisons around the world. Now, it serves as a warning about locking too many people up.
Eastern State Penitentiary review, summarised
- The Eastern State Penitentiary feels haunted.
- It was used as a model for prisons around the world.
- Silence and penitence replaced corporal punishment.
- Famous inmates included Al Capone.
- Get the audioguide – it’s excellent.
To book Eastern State Penitentiary tickets, head here.
For a more detailed review, read on.
The haunting Eastern State Penitentiary
The chills kick in as soon as you walk into the first cell block. Even the most ghost-sceptic of visitors instinctively knows that Philadelphia’s Eastern State Penitentiary is haunted.
Opened in 1829 and finally closed in 1971, this hulking great prison was designed to look as intimidating as possible. The battlements and arrow-slit windows are unusable fakes, but it still looks like an impregnable castle with 30ft walls from the outside. It’s what was on the inside, now in a state of semi-ruin, that was revolutionary, however.
A template for prisons around the world
It was a prison that spawned around 300 imitations all over the world, but especially in Europe – so it may seem familiar from pretty much any footage from any TV show or movie about a prison. Cell blocks were lined like spokes around a central hub, from where all could be monitored. Cells were designed to keep prisoners alone, and quiet. They had thick walls between them, and the only way out was into a tiny, private exercise yard.
5 great things to do in Philadelphia
- 🥖 Taste the best of Philly on a food tour – including historic Reading Market.
- 🏛️ Get to know Philadelphia’s heritage sites – on a guided walking tour.
- 🍻 Go on a pub crawl – but learn the history between beers.
- 🎨 Let a guide show you Philadelphia’s best murals and street art – including Magic Gardens.
- 🌙 Discover Philly’s dark side – on an adults-only night tour.
The silent penitence model
The idea was to provoke penitence in the prisoners. In a time where corporal and capital punishment was the norm, imprisonment in silence with only the Bible for company was seen as a chance for criminals to return to their true characters. Cells were simple – little more than a bed and a toilet that would be flushed once a day at a time when even the White House didn’t have running water. And inmates would be expect to live, and work in them, on their own while only ever allowed to speak to the guards and the chaplain.
Sentences were much shorter than they are now, with an average of around two years, but conditions were cruelly alien. Famous visitor Charles Dickens reckoned the enforced solitude and silence were likely to send prisoners mad. The punishment for being caught talking was a strait jacket and a gag, while there were no letters or visits from loved ones allowed.
Al Capone’s prison cell
The system didn’t last, of course, largely due to there not being enough cells to keep everyone on their own. And in later years prisoners would include Al Capone, whose restored cell looks suspiciously plusher than everyone else’s.
Eastern State Penitentiary audioguide
Walking round the prison is astonishingly atmospheric. It’s a genuinely beautiful building, with the barrel-vaulted ceilings making the blocks seem like long tunnels. And it’s aided in no small part by the audioguide, which uses the voices of former guards and prisoners to tell what life was like inside. These include tales of escape attempts, including one by an inmate known as ‘The Birdman’, who fashioned his own daggers from metal, then strapped them to his hands so they couldn’t be taken off him.
But the Eastern State Penitentiary doesn’t just tell the story of one prison. It tells the story of the whole system of imprisonment – and the section on the US prison population today is particularly unflinching. It’s a continually thought-provoking look at the locked-up.
Book an Eastern State Penitentiary tour
Eastern State Penitentiary tours cost from $21. Advance booking online is advised.
More Philadelphia travel
Other Philadelphia travel articles on Planet Whitley include:
- Review of the Benjamin Franklin Museum in Philadelphia.
- Review of the very weird Mutter Museum in Philadelphia.
- How Philadelphia’s historic attractions provide an introduction to America’s past.
- Learning how Australia’s highest mountain got its name at the Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial.
- Tips and practical information for visiting the Liberty Bell Center.
