An inmate, who served as the warden's waiter, lowers himself from the roof of the front building. Once captured, this inmate will escape in the same manner in 1837. First of several investigations into the prison's finances, punishment practices, and deviations from the Pennsylvania System of confinement. 1836 Original prison completed under the supervision of its architect, John Haviland. Governments throughout the world model prisons after Eastern State.
Tourists travel by horse and buggy from Philadelphia, more than a mile away, to see the building.
Samuel Cowperthwaite, Convict No. 2954, created this lithograph in 1855 depicting the building from above. 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.