Eastern State Penitentiary

Covering eleven acres of Fairmount Avenue, between 20th and 22nd Streets, the Eastern State Penitentiary is one of “America’s Most Historic Prison[s].”  Designed by John Haviland, the fortress-like structure of the original penitentiary complex opened in 1829 and was considered upon its completion in 1836 an “architectural marvel.”  Recalling the castles of Europe, Eastern State’s design employed the symbolic weight of old world oppression to discipline the citizens of the new world city of Philadelphia.  To those outside its walls, the penitentiary’s architecture posed “a harsh physical threat,” serving as a psychological deterrent for the community.  [This satellite image of the prison gives a sense of the prison’s size and scale, illustrating the way it dominates the landscape and the neighborhoods that surround it.]   

Inside, the prison’s panoptic design and innovative punishment practices became models for prisons around the world.  The impulse behind the prison’s design and practices was reform, its development and construction an extension of “a controversial movement to change the behavior of inmates through "confinement in solitude with labor.”  Interaction with guards and fellow inmates was kept to a minimum.  Solitary confinement and social isolation were used to spur reflection and reform of those housed there.  The thick walled cells further isolated prisoners from each other and the outside world.  In other words, ESP put the penance in penitentiary.  Over time, the methods and design changed and ESP came to reflect the practices and conditions of the twentieth century prison and criminal justice system.  Overcrowding, violence, abuse, and racial segregation were characteristic of life inside Eastern State in the years before its closing in 1971.

ESP is extremely open and accessible and can be experienced in a variety of ways.  There is the standard audio-tour with takes visitors through from one end of the complex to the other, charting the history of incarceration in America and the history and use of Eastern State over the course of its 142 year history.  Once visitors have completed the “official” tour they are invited to wander the prison and accessing site-specific information included audio-device.  This seems a departure from the typical audio-tour experience and is one way in which visitors can “invent” their experience of Eastern State (though this invention/improvisation is, admittedly, limited to sites designated by designers and curator).  Those that want to learn more about specific aspects of the prison’s history and use can participate in special tours dealing with prison life, escape attempts, and the penitentiary’s architecture.  Several cells house video programs, while others are given over to art exhibits and installations dealing with the history and use of the prison are interspersed throughout the sprawling complex.

Narrated by Steve Buscemi, the audio-tour uses the voices and recollections of guards and inmates to craft its linear narrative of ESP’s history.  Sound effects and music are also used throughout the tour.  The best of example of how these different elements work together to create the visitor experience is in Cell Block 4.  Visitors enter Cell Block 4 from the panoptic center of the prison.  Former guards and inmates describe life at the prison in the years before its closing in 1971.  These recollections are paired with photographs (identified by printed quotations) depicting the prison experience.  As the narrative progresses, the visitor is drawn down the hallway and, eventually outside.  The setting, stories, and photographs give visitors a sense of life inside ESP (you ARE inside).  Further, the audio-tour directs the visitor’s attention, moving them through space and time.

ESP manages to be both entertaining and educational.  The information, and the ways that it may be accessed by the visitor, is almost overwhelming.  Accessing and digesting it all would require several visits.  ESP was designated as a federal historic landmark in 1965 and ceased operation in 1971.  Surviving years of neglect and attempts at demolition and commercial repurposing, ESP opened for daily tours in 1994.  It has become one of Philadelphia’s chief tourist destinations and most recognizable landmarks.  It is worth noting that ESP’s annual Halloween fundraiser (know today as Terror Behind the Walls) played an important role in funding subsequent development of the historic site.  I think this provides an interesting model for the ways entertainment attractions can be used to support more rigorous historic preservation and educational efforts.