Living Life In Total Isolation

Hello peeps. Today we went to jail. The Eastern State Penitentiary to be exact. Now, I knew it was going to be a tad sketchy from the name and because of the fact that

it’s almost 200 years old and has been closed for 40, but no one told be it was going to look like a foreboding medieval castle from the outside. It looked like a place that says, “If you come in, you shall never leave.” The penitentiary is the first of it’s kind, a system designed by the Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons, a society presided over by Benjamin Franklin. The idea was that the prisoners were to be made to sit in silence

and isolation to reflect upon their life decisions and to become penitent, hence the word penitentiary. It was designed so that each cell would have central heating and running water, which is a modernization even the White House didn’t have at the time, with it’s own outdoor exercise yard attached to the back. Originally, the cells had to be accessed through the exercise yard and only the food came through a little slot at the front all though this design changed over time. There were originally seven cell blocks radiating out of the centre, or rotunda, like spokes on a wheel, which made it possible for a guard to see down all the halls by simply rotating on the spot. The architect had to amend his original design some, because he wasn’t accommodating for enough prisoners, so he had to add length and one extra story to the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th cellblocks. The outside was a medieval castle facade to intimidate and dissuade people from ending up inside, even though isolation was thought to be kind at the time. When prisoners were outside their cells, they had to wear hoods over their faces so they weren’t recognized by other inmates. Interaction was forbidden at all times. The only light in the cells was provided by

skylights, because it was the eye of God obviously, and the only book allowed to read for those who were literate was the Bible. Ha, no thanks. They were also allowed to do some sort of work, such as weaving or shoemaking, which is honest and not sinful, etc. etc. The prison was the prison to revolutionize all prisons though, and there were many tourists that visited after it’s opening in 1829. Lots of peoples were very impressed by said prison and it inspired the building of almost 300 more all over the world using the isolation system. Of course, not everyone agreed with this system. The great Charles Dickens himself visited in 1842 and said that, while the intentions of the prison were sincere, isolation for long periods of time could lead to madness in the long term. People began to agree with this theory over the years and, as the prison began to become overcrowded, solitary confinement was no longer possible. In 1913 it was abandoned entirely and became a congregant system. However, this is not what the prison was built for and as it became more and more expensive to keep while not being able to adapt to this modern system, it was finally closed for good in 1971. Then, it sat and contemplated life and crumbled into little stone bits for nine years until

Philadelphia bought in in 1980. It was definitely really interesting to walk around and look at it all, even if half of it has fallen apart. It’s being kept in a state of stable decay, so as to remain authentic. We took the audio guided tour and another free tour of the dining hall, which had been created in the 1910’s by joining a whole bunch of the old exercise rooms, after the recordings had finished playing. It was interesting to learn how the prison methods and interpretations of the human mind changed from the 19th century and into the 20th. I guess the problem with the congregant system is the formation of prison gangs and organized riots, which were rampant at Eastern State in the ’20’s and ’30’s. By then, they were using isolation as a punishment for bad behaviour. The most famous inmate ever held at the penitentiary was Al Capone, criminal from Brooklyn. He was held there for a year, in apparent luxury all though this could have been exaggerated, because he and a friend had been carrying unauthorized weapons at a theatre in Philadelphia. The depressing thing is, through all this, America has the highest imprisonment rate in the world by almost 200 people per 100000 citizens at 700/100000. Rwanda comes in second with 523 (about) per 100000. Canada’s is way down at the bottom, because we’re just cool like that. And of course, there is still issues of discrimination and segregation within prisons. One pressing issue is the treatment of transgender inmates. MTF transitions are placed with male inmates, even though they identify as female and may even have female as their sex on their passports or drivers licenses and vice versa. We spent almost all of our time out at the penitentiary and made a quick stop at a coffee shop before heading home to Kizmet. Isaac and I had to do question sheets about Eastern State, which we worked on before dinner, and then I played a game of crib with the parents at which Mum and I were almost skunked. Thanks Dad’s 18 point hand. Peace out m8s.

P.S. DONALD TRUMP LOOKS LIKE A CORN THAT’S HAIR HAS BEEN EDITED USING THE BLUR TOOL AND IS A DISGUSTING, RACIST, SOULLESS MOULDY AVOCADO. Thank for your time.

#camping #pennsylvania #philadelphia