Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site.

The State Penitentiary for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, commonly known as Eastern State Penitentiary, was the world's first true "penitentiary" in the sense that it was designed to inspire true feelings of penitence in the hearts of inmates.

"...Most eighteenth century prisons were simply large holding pens. Groups of adults and children, men and women, and petty thieves and murderers, sorted out their own affairs behind locked doors. Physical punishment and mutilation were common, and abuse of the prisoners by the guards and overseers was assumed.

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