COEXIST 1

ALL PEOPLE ARE EQUAL

Photograph taken from respectfully long distance with 300 mm zoom lens.

Eastern State Penitentiary Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

EASTERN STATE PENITENTIARY - PART 6

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA

Alphonse “Scarface” Capone got his first taste of prison life in Philadelphia. 

He stopped in Philadelphia while traveling from Atlantic City back to his home in Chicago in May, 1929.

He was arrested outside a movie theater for carrying a concealed, unlicensed .38 caliber revolver.

The Philadelphia courts were tough.

They handed Capone the maximum sentence: one year in prison. 

Capone served eight months of that sentence in this cell.

But while the Philadelphia courts tried to make an example of Chicago’s famous bootlegger, the officials at Eastern State Penitentiary were nothing if not generous.

They allowed Capone comforts not typically granted to inmates, including fine furniture, oriental rugs, oil paintings and a fancy radio. 

He liked to listen to waltzes in his cell. 

--easternstate.org

EASTERN STATE PENITENTIARY - PART 5

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA

Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site is located at 22nd Street and Fairmount Avenue, just five blocks from the Philadelphia Museum of Art. 

The penitentiary is open every day from 10 am to 5 pm.

--easternstate.org

EASTERN STATE PENITENTIARY - PART 4

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA

Eastern State Penitentiary’s vaulted, sky-lit cells once held many of America's most notorious criminals, including bank robber "Slick Willie" Sutton and Al Capone.

--easternstate.org

EASTERN STATE PENITENTIARY - PART 3

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA

Though “Pep the black” was sentenced to life in prison for murder, he was an ideal cellmate. Not only was this 1920s convict innocent of his crime, he was a dog. A literal labrador retriever.

The story starts in the 1920s at Philadelphia's Eastern State Penitentiary, the largest and most expensive public building in history at the time of its construction. It was one of the first prisons to isolate prisoners as a rehabilitation tool. Before Eastern State, it was standard to force inmate into silent labor "with the goal of punishing the accused instead of reforming them," reports Now I Know.

Pennsylvania Governor Gifford Pinchot wanted to help change the state of the U.S. prison system. He believed inmates could be reformed, and solitary confinement was not the way. Enter Pep, the Pinchots' black lab who liked to chew cushions.

The Pinchot family bred labradors, which gave the governor an idea. He "sentenced" Pep, who was a relatively bad-behaved dog, to life in prison at Eastern State for murdering his wife's cat. 

This cutesy backstory (he wasn't really a kitty killer) was much more fun than simply saying Pinchot was donating a therapy dog. The prison played along with the colorful tale, too. Pep had his mugshot snapped with his inmate number, C2559. Not a real inmate himself, Pep freely roamed around as the cutest morale-booster in the cell block.

EASTERN STATE PENITENTIARY - PART 2

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA

Known for its grand architecture and strict discipline, Eastern State Penitentiary was the world's first true "penitentiary," a prison designed to inspire penitence, or true regret, in the hearts of prisoners.

--easternstate.org

EASTERN STATE PENITENTIARY - PART 1

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA

Eastern State Penitentiary was once the most famous and expensive prison in the world.

It stands today in ruin, a haunting world of crumbling cellblocks and empty guard towers.

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