Eastern State Penitentiary Seeks Artists for 2004 Season

(July, 2003) The arts review committee announces 2004 Guidelines for Artists’ Proposals.

Each year, Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site puts out a call to artists interested in submitting applications to exhibit at the site. The deadline for this year’s application is Thursday, November 6, 2003. Artists will be notified by Monday, December 1, 2003. Other important dates, including a list of Art Orientation tours, can be found in the 2004 Guidelines for Artists’ Proposals.

To learn more about the application process, to request an application, or to schedule an orientation tour, please contact Brett Bertolino at (215) 236-5111 ex. 12 or at bb@EasternState.org

Come Start a Revolution!

(July, 2003) Grab a pitchfork and storm the walls! Philadelphia’s massive, ten and a half-acre Eastern State Penitentiary will host its eighth annual Bastille Day celebration on Saturday, July 12. The event will culminate at 5:30 pm when dozens of French revolutionaries, armed with muskets and cannon, and singing "La Marseilles," storm the grim walls of "the Bastille" and will capture Marie Antoinette (tossing over 2,000 Butterscotch Krimpits from the Prison’s medieval towers), and, ignoring her mocking cries of "Let them eat TastyKake," drag the monarch to a real, functioning guillotine. The crowd will decide her fate.

The Complete Bastille Day Schedule can be found on our Events Page.

Eastern State Penitentiary Marks 10th Season with Gala Celebration

(Philadelphia, June 2003) Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site marked its 10th season of public tours with a gala celebration, Thursday, June 26, on the penitentiary’s newly-opened baseball diamond. Nearly 500 people attended the event.

The celebration also honored Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, Pennsylvania Senator Vincent Fumo, Philadelphia Mayor John Street. and Philadelphia City Councilman Darrell Clarke for their many years of support. Gathering beneath Eastern State’s dramatic corner guard towers and thirty-foot stone wall, Lt. Governor Catherine Baker Knoll and Herb Veterman (representing the Governor), Senator Vincent Fumo, Mayor Street, Councilman Clark and Wayne Spilove, of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, congratulated the historic site's Board of Directors and Staff on 10 years of sustained progress.

Eastern State to Open New Haunted Attraction in Abandoned Prison Print Shop

(May, 2003) Event planners will unveil a new interactive haunted attraction in the penitentiary’s former Print Shop for Terror Behind the Walls 2003. The Print Shop--like the entire penitentiary--was abandoned in 1971 and has never been open to the public. Terror Behind the Walls’ latest attraction will be designed by a professional creative team, including nationally recognized haunted attraction consultant John Denley. For more information about Terror Behind the Walls, including our 2003 calendar, promotions and coupons, please visit our Halloween Web Site.

Eastern State Featured on WHYY’s Morning Edition.

(May, 2003) Eastern State Penitentiary was selected as the first National Historic Landmark featured on WHYY’s year-long series "Marking Pennsylvania History." The reports focuses on these reminders of the past, and the stories they can only begin to tell. The five minute story also includes interviews with former Eastern State officers and inmates from the new "Voices of Eastern State" Audio Tour.

Take a listen at: http://www.whyy.org/91FM/marker2.html

Steve Buscemi to Narrate Eastern State Audio Tour

(March, 2003) Actor Steve Buscemi, star of Fargo and Armageddon, will narrate the new "Voices of Eastern State" Acoustiguide tour. The tour will launch April 16, 2003.

The audio tour is part of a year-long celebration of the historic site’s 10th season. It incorporates the voices of two former wardens and twenty-two former officers and inmates. Acoustiguide, the world’s leader in museum audio tour design, is producing the tour with a team of award-winning writers and producers.

Steve Buscemi first visited Eastern State in 2000, while scouting film locations, and has remained interested in preservation efforts at the National Historic Landmark. He won The New York Film Critics Award in 2002, and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his role in Ghost World.

Eastern State Featured on WNYC/Public Radio International’s Next Big Thing.

(March, 2003) Next Big Thing Host Dean Olsher spent a long, cold morning in February at Eastern State. His response to the historic site--broadcast nationally on NPR during the week of March 14,--was unusually insightful.

Take a listen at: http://www.nextbigthing.org/archive/episode.html?03072003

Monumental Construction Project Nears Completion

In the summer of 2002, construction began on a massive and meaningful roofing project to arrest the decay that has concentrated on the building’s Rotunda, the most significant physical and symbolic center of the prison. The project also includes the links that connect the Rotunda to the adjoining cellblocks.

One of the most anticipated outcomes of the project is a dry Rotunda, for the first time in many years, as well safe access into all of the blocks from the Rotunda.

The project is scheduled for completion in the spring of 2003, in time for the 2003 season, which begins on April 2. You can learn more about this exciting project on our Stabilization Page.

Arts Review Committee Selects New Artists for 2003 Season.

On January 6, 2003, the ten member Arts Review Committee announced the artists for the 2003 season. Thirty-one artists submitted proposals for the upcoming season. The Committee selected three new artists.

Nick Cassway’s outdoor installation, tentatively titled Juveniles on Death Row, is approximately 40 portraits of death row inmates who were juveniles at the time of their sentencing. The paintings, which are on plate steel, will line the 30 foot high perimeter wall outside of Death Row. The second new exhibit, Terry Adkin’s SANCTUARY, is a sculpture "recital
about the legendary abolitionist John Brown, which explores his incarceration in a Virginia prison for forty days and forty nights before he was publicly hanged on December 2, 1859. Juxtaposition, our final new art installation for this season, is by Matthew and Jon Stemler. Using suspended plaster pieces, the piece constructs a "situation of juxtaposition by allowing the visitor to step into a horizontally divided cell that compresses through material position yet expands through perspective."

In addition to the three new art installations, three current exhibits will continue. Michael Grothusen’s midway of another day, Ilan Sandler's Arrest and Erin Weckerle’s Evidence will return for the 2003 season.

Architectural Conservation Program Begins at Eastern State

Eastern State has recently welcomed four first year graduate students enrolled in University of Pennsylvania’s 2-year program of historical preservation as architectural conservation interns.

Jorge Danta, Laura Mass, Han Salzman and Jeremy Wells work at the Penitentiary on intricate and imperative conservation projects, including stone conservation and window repair.

The windows in need of repair have great historical value because they are of the same period as the building itself. The students are currently working on the windows in the Rotunda, the 2-story cellblocks and the windows in the end of Cellblock 1.

The students’ stone conservation efforts are an equally important aspect of their work. This task includes mortar analysis, removal of harmful salts and repairing and pointing the walls.

Eastern State Participates in Drexel University Co-op Program

Last year, a student from Drexel University in search of a unique and rewarding internship opportunity contacted Eastern’s Executive Director, Sally Elk. Amber Holden, a history-politics major, opened the doors of this fascinating historic landmark to future interns and introduced an invaluable human resource to the staff. Since September 2001, Eastern State has employed three Drexel students and the experience has proven to be a very positive one for both parties.

The recent addition of Eastern State to the broad range of employers in Drexel University’s co-op program is an exciting one. In the ideal co-op situation, the student gains valuable hands-on experience and the employer gains a proficient, qualified intern. Now in its third season of co-ops, this ideal exists at Eastern State.

New Book By Former Eastern State Inmate NOW AVAILABLE: Breaching the Walls by Joseph J. Corvi and Steve Conway

Just published, this 190 page book by former Eastern State inmate Joe Corvi provides an insider’s view of the eastern Pennsylvania penal system during the 1940’s and 1950’s. Although the cast of the characters is large, Breaching the Walls tells the story of three men who served years together in three eastern Pennsylvania prisons, including Eastern State.

As part of this special introductory offer, Breaching the Walls is now on sale for $14.95. In addition, as an added bonus, Mr. Corvi has signed the first 200 copies of the book.

To place your order, visit our Online Store.

Think outside the box!

Think outside the box! This holiday season give someone on your list the gift of membership. Each recipient of a gift membership will receive a personalized gift card, ESP T-shirt, 2003 Halloween tickets, and a year of free admission, behind the scenes tours, and exciting events. It’s a great deal! For more information, other great Eastern State gifts or to place your order, visit our Online Store.

The Return of MTV

(September, 2002) New York based MTV visited Eastern State Penitentiary on Wednesday, September 25. It was their second visit in two years. They were filming a segment for "All Things Rock," a video program that airs weekdays at midnight.

The Eastern State segment will air at midnight on Thursday October 3 (technically it's the morning of Friday the 4th.) The crew chose Eastern State because of its haunting, evocative environment. They filmed in Cell Block 12, the central guard tower, and in front of Al Capone's cell.

The show is hosted by Benji and Joel of the band "Good Charlotte." The band's new album, Young and the Hopeless, was just released on Epic records. The band's website is www.goodcharlotte.com. They will play in Philadelphia on October 5.

Joe Kita, executive staff writer at Men's Health Magazine, methodically set out to confront his twelve biggest fears last year. One of his greatest fears: isolation.

Kita chose to experience isolation at Eastern State under the same conditions experienced by the Penitentiary’s earliest inmates, something that hadn’t been attempted in more than one hundred years. In his new book, Accidental Courage, Kita chronicles his is a journey. His web site says, "It is a tale that is as full of wisdom as of wit, as profound as it is, at times, pathetic. You will be fascinated, and at the same time, you will find inspiration, laughter, and courage."

If you have ever wanted to spend a night at Eastern State, after reading this book you may begin to have second thoughts. You’ll have to read the book to find out if Kita conquered his fear of isolation, but he does say at the end of his book, "I would do everything else again, except get locked in that prison."

For more information about Joe Kita and Accidental Courage, visit www.joekita.com.

Eastern State Penitentiary Debuts Online Store

(July 2002) Shop for clothing, books, magnets, mugs and more. As of this morning, selected merchandise from the Eastern State Penitentiary gift shop is now available for purchase online. Use our secure server to shop for items you may have missed in our gift shop.

This season we introduced a brand new line of merchandise including a very popular "Mug Shot: Mugs" set, photo magnets, pencils and tattoos. If you haven't been to the Pen this season, you can see photos of all of our new merchandise on our online store

Eastern State to Appear on ABC Special:

M. Night Shyamalan, writer/director of Signs, The Sixth Sense & Unbreakable) chose Philadelphia’s Eastern State Penitentiary to film the backdrop for his Signs of Fear special.

Signs of Fear explores the compelling phenomenon of fear by exploring our most spine-tingling scares. In each of the special's ten segments, real people describe a true frightening experience, exploring how that fright altered their behaviors and lives.

The filming required a crew of forty people and weeks of planning. It was completed during two long nights in early July, when the director and crew took over the Eastern State Penitentiary complex from dusk until dawn. Filming took place in the penitentiary’s guard lounge, Rotunda, Chaplain’s Office, Death Row, and Cell Blocks Six and Seven.

Signs of Fear will air nationally on the ABC network (WPVI 6ABC in the Philadelphia area) from 8:00 – 9:00 pm on Monday, July 22. For more information, visit the Signs of Fear web site.

Hiring for Terror Behind the Walls now underway. Get paid to scare people in prison.

Halloween isn't just one night at Eastern State Penitentiary. Our acclaimed event, Terror Behind the Walls, runs 19 nights during October and November. Lots of planning and training take place in September. Positions are currently available for actors, line staff, maintenance, box office and management. These jobs are demanding, and FUN. Many people return year after year to join our "Scream Team!" Visit our Terror Behind the Walls web page.

Recent Donation Sheds New Light on 1945 Tunnel Escape:

(June 2002): On June 2, 2002, the Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site received a donation of documents related to flamboyant bank robber and escape artist "Slick" Willie Sutton from the family of a former Penitentiary administrator. This donation has shed new light on both Sutton and his role in the famed 1945 tunnel escape. Although the location of the tunnel cell has been known, Sutton’s cell has been the subject of debate for many years. The donated documents have conclusively identified Sutton’s cellblock and cell number. The cell will be used to display these photographs and rare documents, which have been never exhibited to the public. They include:

• Hand drawn illustrations of the tunnel, produced by the administration immediately following the escape;
• Reports from the guards who oversaw the cellblock on the day of the escape;
• Willie Sutton’s mug shot and wanted poster; and
• Transcripts from interviews with the inmates during the follow-up investigation.

The historic site staff will commemorate Sutton’s Birthday on Saturday, June 29 at 11:00 a.m., by unveiling the cell occupied by Willie Sutton at the time of the escape, and a collection of rare artifacts related to the escape. For more information about Willie Sutton Weekend, visit our Events Page.

Graterford Inmates Help Restore America's First Penitentiary

(June 2002): During the first two weeks of June, ten inmates from Graterford Prison's Community Works Program under the supervision of a maintenance trades instructor will travel to Eastern State to begin preparing the site for the restoration of the 95-year-old Industrial Building.

Inmates selected for the program are generally within a year of release and do not have kidnapping, rape, sexual assaults or escape on their records.

Since The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections introduced the Community Works Program in 1995, inmate crews have built and cleared trails through public parklands, painted and refurbished municipal buildings and have cleared Pennsylvania's roadways of litter. Graterford's inmates have renovated buildings at The Elmwood Park Zoo in Norristown.

You can help with the restoration of the Industrial Building by becoming a Supporting or Sustaining Member or by making a Tax Deductible Donation. Call the Penitentiary Office for more information: 215-236-5111 x12.

Eastern State Wins Illumination Design Award:

(May, 2002). Helen K. Diemer, FIALD and the design team from The Lighting Practice won an Illumination Design Award from the Philadelphia Section of the Illuminating Engineering Society for the lighting of Eastern State Penitentiary.

The dramatic new lighting illuminates the Penitentiary's 30 foot high half mile long perimeter wall. The lights highlight Eastern State's forbidding façade every night.

The project was funded by the Commonwealth Department of Community and Economic Development ($250,000) and the 2000 Eastern State Penitentiary Halloween Fundraiser ($50,000).

Eastern State Penitentiary Receives Prestigious Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative Grant

(May 2002) Eastern State Penitentiary has received a $166,440 grant from the Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative, a grant program funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts and administered by the University of the Arts, Philadelphia, to commission international artist Janet Cardiff to create a site-specific art installation.

Ms. Cardiff was the recipient of the top prize for her work, "Paradise Institute" at the 2001 Venice Bienniale. Her work ranges from audio-based installations and walking tours, to major commissioned compositions presented in large spaces. It relies on the active participation of the audience and must be experienced to be fully appreciated. Ms Cardiff layers life-like representations of sounds - voices, music, children chanting, street sounds -- with her own voice to situate us within an engaging narrative. She bases her work on historical fact, but interweaves it with personal history and memory. Visitors discover small, quirky facts about the places in which they walk, and Ms. Cardiff provides fictional dramas for the objects that fill these real-life environments. The binaural sound gives the impression that she is right behind you, and sometimes creates the anxious feeling that you are about to witness a crime unfold. Every detail, each voice, each distant sound, seems pregnant and meaningful, something more than what it first seems.

Ms Cardiff's commissioned work will premier at Eastern State Penitentiary in April, 2005.

Old Friend Passes Away at 79

Dan "The Catman" McCloud first became acquainted with Eastern State Penitentiary when visiting his younger brother Louis, who was held at Eastern in the 1950s.

When the penitentiary closed in 1971, The City of Philadelphia briefly used the grounds for a truck dispatch. Dan, a City employee, was put in charge of the complex. When the trucks drove in, stray cats would sometimes follow. The drivers began to feed the strays.

When the City discontinued the dispatch program at the penitentiary, Dan and the truck drivers were transferred elsewhere. Worried the cats would starve, Dan asked for a key to the abandoned penitentiary.

Dan McCloud fed his "jailhouse cats" three times a week for 28 years, from 1971 until his retirement in 1999. Although Dan was recognized by the national press during the last few years of his care for the cats, he spent the first two decades working without any recognition. (The historic site staff feeds the few remaining cats, now neutered.)

Dan passed away on April 29, 2002. He was 79. We will miss him. Flowers and cards will be received by the James Campbell Funeral Home in Philadelphia.

A plaque honoring Dan's loyalty and kind heart hangs in our visitors' center.

Tour Guide Training Begins with Trip To S.C.I. Graterford

Training for Eastern State Penitentiary's 2002 tour guide team began on Saturday, April 13, 2002 with a trip to the State Correctional Institution at Graterford.

During the day-long trip, the E.S.P. team toured the facilities at S.C.I. Graterford. The tour provided the guide team with a "behind the scenes" look at Pennsylvania's largest state prison.

After the tour, the staff had the opportunity to have an "off the record" discussion with four inmates. The inmates discussed their experiences at Graterford and described what their typical day was like. In addition, the inmates were interested in hearing about what was happening at Eastern State. Two of the inmates will soon be coming to Eastern State as part of a work-release program. They will be clearing sections of Eastern State in preparation for a roofing project in the summer of 2002.

Are YOU an Eastern State Alumni?

(April, 2002) Were you or a family member a guard, inmate or staff member at Eastern State Penitentiary? We love talking with people who were a part of Eastern State’s history and we are currently planning an "Alumni Reunion." The 2002 Alumni reunion will take place on Sunday, May 5th at 1:30 pm inside the Penitentiary. Light refreshments will be served. At 2:00 pm alumni wishing to meet with members of the public will be able to do so. Even if you can’t make the reunion, we would still like to hear from you. Please contact Brett Bertolino, Assistant Program Director , at 215-236-5111 x12 or bb@EasternState.org for more information.

Planning for Terror Behind the Walls 2002 Already Underway

(March, 2002) Preparations for Terror Behind the Walls 2002, Philadelphia’s premier haunted attraction, are well underway. Eastern State Program Director Sean Kelly, Assistant Program Director Brett Bertolino and Halloween Coordinator Jennifer Bendik traveled to Chicago during the first week of March for the 7th annual Transworld National Halloween Conference. The TBTWs team joined other professional haunters and industry professionals to share experiences, learn from each other and preview new special effect products. While in Chicago the TBTWs team met with Stuart Smith, a nationally recognized "Extreme Dimensional 3-D" artist based in Boston. Mr. Smith will be designing a new 3-D attraction for Terror Behind the Walls 2002. Continue to check the Terror Behind the Walls Web Site for continued updates and information.

Great Eastern State Breakout 5k Race to be run on Saturday, April 6, 2002.

The Friends of Eastern State Penitentiary Park want to invite you to participate in the fifth annual running of the Great Eastern State Breakout 5k Race on Saturday, April 6, 2002. This race through the streets of Philadelphia's Fairmount neighborhood is the Friends' primary fund-raiser and helps support its efforts to maintain the park along the Brown Street and Corinthian Avenue sides of the historic prison. Kick off the spring racing season at this USA Track and Field sanctioned event. Visit the Friends of ESP Park website for entry forms and more information about the organization.

We're putting together a team of tour guides, staff, Members and friends to run. (We are a separate organization, but of course we support all the efforts to beautify the prison's exterior) Want to join us? email Brett "Iron Man" Bertolino at bb@easternstate.org

Mark Perrott: Eastern State Penitentiary Gallery Exhibit

(March 2002) Pittsburgh photographer Mark Perrott's photographs of Eastern State will be on display in New York at the OK Harris Gallery. Mr. Perrott extensively explored the Penitentiary from 1992 through 1996 taking hundreds of black and white photos of the cell blocks, industrial and administrative spaces. Mr. Perrott's photographs highlight the architecture but also include personal objects left behind, such as horsehair shaving brush, a worn and bursting baseball, a stool, a desk, and a prisoner's tin handled drinking cup. This collection of photographs, along with text collected by filmmaker Hal Kirn, became the book Hope Abandoned, designed by Anita Driscoll and published in 1999 by the Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site, Inc. The exhibit opens on March 9, with a reception with Mark Perrott from 3:00 - 5:00 pm. The exhibit runs through April 13, 2002.

OK Harris Gallery
383 West Broadway, NY 10012
Tel. 212-431-3600
Fax. 212-925-4797
www.okharris.com

Education Committee Member and Eastern State Scholar Weds Sustaining member. Full Administrative Staff in Attendance.

(December, 2001) In December, the Eastern State Penitentiary Administrative staff traveled to Cape May, New Jersey to celebrate the marriage of two long time supporters of the Historic Site – Jennifer Lawrence and Thomas Janofsky. The ceremony and reception were both held at the Hotel Alcot. The Site Manager for two seasons, Jennifer began her Eastern State career in 1996. Currently she serves on Eastern State’s Artist Selection, Education and Audio Tour Committees. In addition, she is completing her doctoral dissertation, on the subject of Eastern State Penitentiary’s early years, at Temple University. Tom is a Sustaining Member at Eastern State and has been a generous supporter of our current Industrial Building Project.

Industrial Building Update

We have raised half of the $30,000 needed to save this important building. Find out more about this critical and urgent project and how you can help.

Prisoners of Age to Travel to Eastern State for 2002 Season

The critically acclaimed exhibit Prisoners of Age, which was on display at Alcatraz from March 4 to September 27, 2001, will travel to the Eastern State Penitentiary for the 2002 season. Prisoners of Age will feature portraits of convicts imprisoned at various American and Canadian facilities for the aged and infirm. This unique exhibition presents the work of photographer Ron Levine and designer Michael Wou. Prisoners of Age will be dramatically displayed in Cell Block Two, which was once home to Eastern State’s own geriatric inmates.

Arts Review Committee Selects New Artists for 2002 Season.

On December 13, 2001, the ten member Arts Review Committee met to select the artists for the 2002 season. Thirty-three artists submitted proposals for the upcoming season. The Committee selected three new artists. Michael Grothusen’s outdoor sculpture, midway of another day, will reflect the constant struggle with the endless passage of time faced by many inmates. By covering the floor of Cell Block 8 with inmate pillows, textile artist Erin Weckerle’s Evidence will humanize the dormant Penitentiary, reminding visitors of the many people who lived and served time there. Ian Vail’s video installation, , will "create a discordance that questions the visitors’ understanding of the space they occupy."

In addition to the three new art installations, two current exhibits will continue. Ilan Sandler’s and Nicholas Kripal’s will return for the 2002 season.

Rock Stars Visit Eastern State

Sting performed in Philadelphia in the Spring of 2001, and stopped to visit Eastern State during his trip. New York photographer Danny Clinch took photos of the rock star in various locations throughout the Penitentiary’s 11 acre complex, including Cell Block Seven, the court yard between Cell Blocks One and Nine and the court yard between Cell Block One and the South Corridor. The photographs were used for Sting’s new album "All This Time, which was released on November 20, 2001. All of the pictures on the album--including the cover shot--were taken at Eastern State Penitentiary.

On December 13, 2001, singer, author, photographer and all around great guy David Byrne visited Eastern. Mr. Byrne, formerly of The Talking Heads, was in Philadelphia to read from his book, The New Sins (www.davidbyrne.com). He later commented, "I had a wonderful time and having seen the results of Quaker idealism I have thought long and hard about the ramifications of good works and good intentions. I have vowed to only do evil from now on."