CENTER VALLEY, Pa. — Penn State Lehigh Valley students got a firsthand look at one of the most notorious federal penitentiaries in the country with a recent visit to the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, sponsored by the campus’ Criminal Justice Club. The trip was open to all majors. The group toured the facility, now a museum, and learned about the evolution of prisoner rehabilitation within the corrections system.
Built in 1829, the facility held over 85,000 prisoners, including infamous figures like organized crime boss Al Capone and bank robber Willie Sutton, over its long history. Capone’s lavishly-decorated cell remains intact and is one of the most popular stops on the tour. The penitentiary closed in 1971 and reopened as a museum in 1994.
Eastern State Penitentiary pioneered the use of solitary confinement as a means of prisoner rehabilitation. Prisoners were kept in small cells and isolated from each other, only interacting with the prison guards. Some were in solitary confinement for several weeks — some up to several years. Today, prisoner rehabilitation is more holistic. GED programs, job training, mental health services and various other forms of counseling are regularly offered so incarcerated individuals are productive members of society upon their release. “Back then, prisoners were just put in a cell — there really wasn’t any chance for rehab,” said Macy Kocher, a third-year criminal justice major and president of the Criminal Justice Club.
Kocher said the club decided to run the bus trip because of the facility’s storied history, particularly its place in the evolution of the corrections system. “We’re always looking for ways to connect students to criminal justice resources,” Kocher said.
Kayla Tocco, also a third-year criminal justice major, is interested in a career in corrections. She said she was amazed at how much prisoner rehabilitation has evolved. “I didn’t realize men, women, and children were often confined together — there were no separate units, but they also weren’t supposed to see each other. [In solitary confinement] prisoners were in a cell by themselves, but they had to find something to do that was work-related. It had to be self-taught or taught by other prisoners. They couldn’t have any interaction with each other.”
“This tour made me want to work in corrections even more than I did before," she added. "It definitely pushed me a little more to go into this field. It showed how I can help with this [rehabilitation] process.”
Kocher said she is interested in the investigative side of criminal justice but the tour gave her a new appreciation for the corrections system.
Debra Dreisbach, criminal justice program coordinator and assistant teaching professor, said the tour of the facility was notable for a few reasons.
“The trip was funded by [PSU-LV’s] Office of Student Affairs, so Macy and Kayla had to come up with a budget, a plan, and submit it to the Student Affairs committee [on behalf of the Criminal Justice Club]," Dreisbach said. "Students only had to pay $10 per ticket, and it was a full day for the group. We opened it up to the whole campus rather than just limit it to the criminal justice students. The students had some free time after the tour to explore the area a bit — some had never been to Philadelphia. None of them had ever been inside a prison."
Dreisbach noted the state of the former penitentiary: "The building is really in ruins. It’s a really important piece of history that our students need to see.”
Further, Dreisbach said, opportunities like this get students out of the classroom and show them how classroom material applies to real life.
“It was really important for the students to see in practice what they’re reading about in books. They walked the hallways, walked into one of the cells, saw artwork some of the prisoners had created. Part of it for the students was to talk about the criminal justice system, though it’s such a divisive subject," Dreisbach said. "There were things in the cells about both sides of the issue — it wasn’t just seeing it, but discussing both sides of corrections.”
For more information, visit the PSU-LV’s criminal justice major program website.