Cell Block 5
Eastern State Penitentiary
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
5 Image HDR
One of 6 cellblocks left in ruin, there are several areas that visitors are not allowed to enter, among them the infirmary, the kitchen, and dining hall. Don't think I didn't try to get in these places either, but I was told that even employees weren't allowed in them.
Located just outside Downtown Philadelphia, Eastern State Penitentiary stands like a fortress over an entire city square block. Constructed in 1829, at the time of it's completion it was considered a state-of-the-art maximum security prison and was world famous for it's brutality and design. The idea of the time was that you change the behavior of inmates through "confinement in solitude with labor." The prison design is like that of a wagon wheel and was copied throughout the world in the early through late 1800's. In 1971 it was abandoned and left in ruin until 1994 when the first daily tours began. Much of the prison is left in a half-state in decay, and some areas are left in pure ruin. It really is one of the coolest places I've visited in my life.
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