Eye of God Eastern State Penitentiary
by Hugh Smith
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Price
$450
Dimensions
12.000 x 18.000 inches
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Title
Eye of God Eastern State Penitentiary
Artist
Hugh Smith
Medium
Photograph - Archival Print
Description
Abandoned cell at Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Eastern State Penitentiary broke sharply with the prisons of its day, abandoning corporal punishment and ill treatment. This massive new structure, opened in 1829, became one of the most expensive American buildings of its day and soon the most famous prison in the world. The Penitentiary would not simply punish, but move the criminal toward spiritual reflection and change. The method was a Quaker-inspired system of isolation from other prisoners, with labor. The early system was strict. To prevent distraction, knowledge of the building, and even mild interaction with guards, inmates were hooded whenever they were outside their cells. But the proponents of the system believed strongly that the criminals, exposed, in silence, to thoughts of their behavior and the ugliness of their crimes, would become genuinely penitent. Thus the new word, penitentiary.
Uploaded
December 12th, 2014
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