Eastern State Penitentiary
Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date. Always verify with primary sources before acting on any figure. See data sources.
For families
How to send mail, money, and visit Eastern State Penitentiary
Step-by-step guidance using the United States system — addresses, money services, visit booking, what to bring on your first visit.
Gallery
From Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA where not otherwise stated).
Photo by Mike Graham from Portland, USA via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Photo by Design: John Haviland Engraving: Demetz and Blouet via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Photo by Internet Archive Book Images via Wikimedia Commons (No restrictions)
Photo by Hunterblu44 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Photo by Internet Archive Book Images via Wikimedia Commons (No restrictions)
Photo by Danny Fowler from Washington, DC, USA via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Photo by Sandy Horvath-Dori from Grand Junction, CO, USA via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Photo by Mmoor9 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Background
The Eastern State Penitentiary (ESP) is a former American prison in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is located in the Fairmount section of the city, and was operational from 1829 until 1971. The penitentiary refined the revolutionary system of separate incarceration, first pioneered at the Walnut Street Jail, which emphasized principles of reform rather than punishment. Notorious criminals such as Al Capone and bank robber Willie Sutton were held inside its innovative wagon wheel design. For their role in the Kelayres massacre of 1934, James Bruno (Big Joe) and several male relatives were incarcerated here between 1936 and 1948, before they were paroled.
Source: Wikipedia article lead, CC-BY-SA.
Capacity
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Current population
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Occupancy
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Year opened
1829
Operational
Facility profile
Operator
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Population held
Mixed/unknown
Opened
1829
Region
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Security level
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Death-row facility
No
Conditions
No conditions summary available yet.
Visiting
No visiting information available.
Mailing
No mailing information available.
Practical info
Contact the operator's website for inmate-specific procedures.
Known issues
No major issues documented in our database.
Contact & address
Conditions Risk Score
Derived signal — not a judgement. How it's calculated
Data completeness
20%How many of our profile fields are populated. We surface this so families and researchers know the limits.
Sources
- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation
- Wikipedia — Wikimedia Foundation
- See /data-sources for our overall methodology.