Give me some examples...best reason gets BEST ANSWER?

Question

give some examples why somebody would be thrown in the Eastern State Penitentiary!

Answer 1

Today, Eastern State Penitentiary, located up North Broad Street  from City Hall, Philadelphia, on Fairmount Avenue, operates as a museum and historic site and, from December 1 through March 31, runs "Winter Adventure Tours" along with many special events throughout the year -including a wild Halloween affair entitled "Terror Behind the Walls" (if you're even in Philadelphia in October, it's worth the visit).

As a national historic site that actually influenced the design of hundreds of other prisons after it was constructed in 1829 - Eastern State was considered to be the world's first "true" penitentiary because of the format of its incarceration for prisoners.  The name "Penitentiary" comes from "penance" and from that the original goal was for prisoners to wnat to accept God and thereby seek penance for their crimes (sins).

This philosophy of incarceration was in direct opposition to the Auburn system -aka, the New York System- which believed that prisoners should be forced to work together in silence and, when "needed", be forced to undergo physical punishment.

Eastern State, on the other hand, because of its Quaker origins, encouraged "solitary confinement" as its form of rehabilitation.  Even the design of a single glass skylight in the concrete cells, representing the "eye of God" was a purposeful art of the design to reinforce the notion that God was always watching and therefore it was better for the prisoners to open themselves up to God as a part of their penance and redemption. As such, the Penitentiary was not only to punish but also -and maybe, more importantly- move prisoners to accept God and undergo a spiritual transformation.

Notable prisoners were Al Capone (You just have to see pics of his cell to believe it) and Willie Sutton.

While the intent and merits of the "Penitentiary System" are still argued, the escape of Willie Sutton in 1945 via a long underground tunnel certainly is evidence that even with radical and innovative attempts to corral and rehabilitate criminals, it's always arguable that some people simple cannot be changed.

Answer 2

Back when Eastern State was used as maximum security, no one knew what to do with the "hardened" criminals. They especially had no clue what to do with the criminally insane. I think they thought the harder they were on the criminals, they would either break or kill each other. I think they got more of the ladder.

Answer 3

Uh...they were convicted of a felony? That's how we do it in Texas.