Red Cross

Operational from 1829 until 1971, Eastern State Penitentiary was a revolutionary design for prisons. Before Eastern State most prisons were large holding pens where criminals would sort out their own affairs and where prisoner abuse ran rampant. Using prisoner isolation and labour, this was the very first prison where the focus was as much on rehabilitation as it was on punishment. The hope was that the prisoners would become penitent for their crimes. And thus the word 'penitentiary' was born.