Being the week of Halloween, I figured I would post a spookier architectural structure. The Eastern State Penitentiary, located in Philadelphia, is rumored to be the world's first true penitentiary. British architect, John Haviland, designed the structure in a gothic revival style. Built in 1829, the revolutionary system of incarceration, known as the separate or "Pennsylvania" system, encouraged separate confinement. Eastern State's radial floor plan, with extending branches, and system of solitary confinement was the model for over hundreds of prisons around the world.The inmate's cells were made of concrete with a single glass skylight. Outside of the cells, there was an area for exercise, yet still enclosed by high walls so there was still no communication; Solitary confinement in every aspect.
The accommodations within the cells included a faucet with running water, a flushing toilet, and curved pipes which served as a heat source during the winter. But the toilets were only flushed twice a week by the guards of the cellblock; gross.
Al Capone is one of the more famous inmates who have inhabited the walls of Eastern State, this is his cell.
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