Title: Cellblock 4; Voices From Eastern State Penitentiary

Year: 1829 (building) 1930s-1960 (photographs) 1992-2003 (audio interviews)

Material: Audio Tour, Black and White Photographs, Ruins of Cellblock 4

Creator: Unknown

Collection: Primarily Eastern State Penitentiary Collection

Rather than hone in on a single object this week, I’d like to tell you about a corridor of things. Decorated with pictures, lined with doorways that lead to little rooms, full of voices, this hallway may be reminiscent of a passage in your own home. However, I’m describing Cellblock 4 in Philadelphia’s Eastern State Penitentiary (ESP), the home to prisoners of times past.

Entering the cellblock, visitors are prompted to begin the audio tour, Voices from Eastern State Penitentiary. Scattered along the length of the cellblock, large photographs hang alternately on both sides of the walls. In between the images visitors can peer into the individual cells, each in a state of ghostly ruin.  Presented as a series of oral histories, the audio tour deepens the visitor experience. Let me explain how this works. Approaching the first image in the exhibit, one sees a photograph of a former inmate being fingerprinted in 1954. Written above the image reads the text, “I think I was there about three weeks, and then I went Four Block.” Listening through headphones, this text is the first line of former inmate, Maurice Talley’s oral history. The audio continues, allowing time for the visitor to listen, study the image, and peer into the nearby cells. Throughout the hallway, the text included with each image mirrors the first line of a new oral history, which cues the visitor into what images and audio correspond. Realistically, I assume some visitors do not listen to the audio. Please do. It'll make for a much richer, contextualized experience.

“I think I was there about three weeks, and then I went Four Block...”

  

"And we had television on the blocks at certain times..."

The images originate from a variety of sources, including the Temple University Libraries Urban Archives, Eastern State Penitentiary’s collection and gifts from individuals. Most of the audio was captured by Hal Kern and Associates in 1992 and 1993. Documenting daily life, these visual and oral stories tell of playing baseball and getting jobs assignments, to prison violence and the psychological effects of imprisonment. In some sense, the narratives stand in sheer opposition to each other; the narrative is perplexing and inconsistent. One after another, the depilated cells stress the stark reality of solitary confinement, while the images and interviews juxtapose the equally playful and terrifying experience of daily life. By design, these tonal shifts provoke visitors to reflect on the realities of incarceration.

"If you hit a guard at that time..." "At the time I thought this was a real horror..."

 

The exhibit in Cellblock 4 may be important to individuals and organizations interested in the history of the American justice system, as well as those concerned with social issues like incarceration, racial disparities and violence. Scholars and enthusiasts of architecture, historic preservation, photography, and oral histories would also value this place.  As their loved ones are memorialized here through image and word, this cellblock is also significant to the surviving loved ones of former inmates and guards. Each interviewee is recognized in a final panel. 

Final Exhibition Panel 

Exploring the Temple University's Urban Archives might shed some more light on the ESP narrative. ESP also has a wonderful list of resources available on their website. Political Activist and Scholar Angela Davis has written a lot about incarceration and racism (I was fortunate to hear her speak several years ago) like this one. 

Because of its pacing and content, Cellblock 4 would likely not be of interest to younger audiences, or anyone desiring a more interactive experience. These visitors will be more drawn to the spaces that include artist installations, cells that one can step inside, and “celebrity cells.”

Quite honestly, I wouldn't change anything about the Cellblock 4 experience. If pushed, however, I might consider taking the oral histories a step further, and providing visitors with access to the full transcripts from the interviews with former inmates and guards. This could be provided online, or a few printed copies could be available to read within the cellblock.

Each corridor within The Eastern State Penitentiary reads like a different chapter of a larger narrative; one focuses on the 19th century establishment, another addresses issues of gender, sexuality, some highlight famous inmates, like Al Capone, and others portions are dedicated to interpretive installations presented by individual artists. Most importantly, this story isn't over.  The United States currently has the highest incarceration rate in the world. Something has to change.