Eastern State Penitentiary

Visited Eastern State Penitentiary.  Very cool place to see. 

 This is a second generation cell.  Originally they only had a small door for food to go in and a door outside to the yard.  The prisoners where kept in solitary confinement at all times and if they were moved they wore a hood.  They could serve their complete sentence and never see another prisoner.

 Inside the cell

 Only light in the cell.  Prisoners called it the eye of god.

 Cells were later upgraded with indoor plumbing.

 All the wings of the prison leave from this center hub like spokes on a wheel.  One guard could see down all the wings and watch for problems.

 Medical wing

 Original solitary cells for bad prisoners.  Overhead is about 5 feet.  There is no heat or lights.

 Solitary cell.

 This is the start of the tunnel that was dug out of the prison. All the prisoners were soon caught.

 The white line shows the route the tunnel took.

 Al Capone's cell

 Dog inmate.  There is argument whether he killed the governors wife's cat or he was sent there for a therapy type dog.

 WWI plaque for prisoners that served.

 There are some real big roots growing into the cells.

 Contrast of the new looking city and the old looking prison

 Hall where they filmed part of the movie 12 monkeys with Bruce Willis

 Death row cells

 Control for death row cells

 Some art that was made from dust found throughout the prison.  It was made to fade with time along with the prison.  Thought it was interesting.