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United States

Eastern State Penitentiary

MaximumClosed 1971LowLow
Verified
Aging · 5mo ago
Sources last reviewed on

Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date.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.

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Photograph of Eastern State Penitentiary

Gallery

From Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA where not otherwise stated).

  • Eastern State Penitentiary aerial crop.jpg

    Photo by Mike Graham from Portland, USA via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

  • Eastern State Penitentiary Floor Plan 1836.png

    Photo by Design: John Haviland Engraving: Demetz and Blouet via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

  • A new and popular Pictorial History of the United States (1848) (14595939800).jpg

    Photo by Internet Archive Book Images via Wikimedia Commons (No restrictions)

  • An inside look at Eastern State Penitentiary.jpg

    Photo by Hunterblu44 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

  • Annual report of the Board of Managers of the Prison Discipline Society (1830) (14591934547).jpg

    Photo by Internet Archive Book Images via Wikimedia Commons (No restrictions)

  • Barber's Chair (17334469536).jpg

    Photo by Danny Fowler from Washington, DC, USA via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

  • Barber's Chair (7426891428).jpg

    Photo by Sandy Horvath-Dori from Grand Junction, CO, USA via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

  • Beautiful, Haunting, Educational.jpg

    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

450

Current population

—

Occupancy

—

Year opened

1829

Closed 1971

Figures from official sources · verified 29 May 2026 · methodology

Facility profile

Operator

—

Population held

Mixed/unknown

Opened

1829

Region

—

Security level

Maximum

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.

Notable inmates

  • Pep
    Pep
    1920–1930 · therapy dog

    Pep (c.

Source: Wikidata + Wikipedia.

Contact & address

Official site

Conditions Risk Score

Derived signal — not a judgement. How it's calculated

0/100
Low concern0/100
Overcrowding
0/30
Oversight reports
0/30
Structural flags
0/15
Death signals
0/15
Conditions text
0/10

This facility scores 0. The national average across 7,437 scored United States facilities is 2 — 2 points below national average.

Related facilities

All in United States →

Same country, matched on type + security level where possible.

Compared to other facilities in United States

7436 peers
Capacity (beds)this: 450 · peers avg: 547 (18%)

Reports

  • marshall-project16 Feb 2016

    ember, Allen performed the piece at the 2015 Ninth Circuit Corrections Summit, a conference of federal judges, wardens and prison officials. The show has performances scheduled at Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, considered the birthplace of solitary, and in front of elected officials and staffers in the New York State Legislature. This is the first time video of the play has been made

    source

Data completeness

34%

How many of our profile fields are populated. We surface this so families and researchers know the limits.

Sources

Cite this page

Under CC-BY-4.0. Include the URL and access date; the site is a living reference and entries can change.

APA
World Prisons. (2026). Eastern State Penitentiary. Retrieved October 20, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/prisons/eastern-state-penitentiary
Chicago
"Eastern State Penitentiary." World Prisons. Accessed October 20, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/prisons/eastern-state-penitentiary.
BibTeX
@misc{worldprisons-eastern-state-penitentiary,
  author = {{World Prisons}},
  title = {Eastern State Penitentiary},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://worldprisons.com/prisons/eastern-state-penitentiary},
  urldate = {2026-10-20}
}