Note that Philadelphia has not yet grown to reach the Penitentiary. 1842 Charles Dickens visits the United States to see Niagara Falls and Eastern State Penitentiary. Four new cell blocks, without attached exercise yards, are constructed in spaces between existing cell blocks 1913 The Pennsylvania System of confinement with solitude is officially abandoned at Eastern State. The system had actually broken down decades earlier. 1923 Female prisoners removed to new prison at Muncie.
Inmates eat for first time in group dining halls.
1925 Construction begins on Cell Blocks Thirteen and Fourteen, each three stories high. Any space between cell blocks is now nearly gone. The Penitentiary, intended to hold 250 inmates, holds 1,700. 1929-1930 Chicago gangster Al Capone spends eight months at Eastern State Penitentiary. Clarence Klinedinst designed and built most of the tunnel.