Field Trip: Eastern State Penitentiary

Yesterday Philly had a free museum day for college students, so a bunch of us ventured to a more unusual field trip location - the Eastern State Penitentiary.



















Completed in 1829, it was ground breaking in prison theory. Instead of just a holding pen as people awaiting the stocks or the gallows, it was a place to inspire penitence. It relied on complete solitary isolation - "You just sit there and think about what you did!" Reform rather than brute punishment seems like a good idea, but I wonder how humane treatment actually was. Inmates got no letters or visitors, and only 1 hour of recreation time. When they arrived bags were placed over their heads so they wouldn't know the layout of the building. Personally, I think 23 hours a day in a small dark room alone would make me crazy, not rehabilitated.

Over time, they realized single cells weren't really practical for a place meant to jail all the criminals in eastern PA. Inmates got roommates, and later wings were two stories. 20th century inmates got a lot more freedom - work details, sports leagues, tv hours, etc.

People who work in prison ministry have told me that "prison doesn't work." Often it denies the dignity and humanity of those it attempts to reform. There are no easy answers to stopping crime but also remembering criminals are people too, but the questions are important. After all, didn't Jesus include "I was in prison and you visited me" to His list of righteous deeds that gain entry to heaven?

Eastern State may be plagued with ghosts and painful memories, but there were also stories of hope. As restrictions lifted, inmates got to collaborate for religious services. One Catholic guy painted murals of Mary and of Christ receiving a man's confession. Jewish inmates were so well organized that they built a little synagogue in the 1920s. I liked the story about how they stuck tree branches in the skylight to make a Sukkot hut. Even in today's prison ruins, that legacy of growth survives in the trees and plants that find ways to live inside the stone walls.