A careful archeological investigation of the famous 1945 escape tunnel.

More than one-hundred prisoners managed to escape from Eastern State Penitentiary.

The first escapee, William Hamilton (Inmate No. 94), scrambled down from the warden’s quarters in 1832, just three years after the prison opened. Leo Callahan, inmate C566, scaled the east wall with five other inmates in 1923, and remains the only inmate in the prison’s history to avoid recapture. We’re still looking for him.

The escape was planned by prison plaster worker Clarence Klinedinst and his cellmate, William Russell. They dug into the wall of their cell in Cellblock Seven, fifteen feet down, ninety-seven feet out to Fairmount Avenue and fifteen feet up to freedom. They equipped the tunnel with lights and shored it with wood bracing.

By April 3, 1945, the tunnel was complete. Ten inmates joined the escape on the way to breakfast that morning. One of the late comers was flamboyant bank robber and escape artist “Slick Willie” Sutton.

The twelve inmates emerged from the tunnel at the corner of 22nd Street and Fairmount Avenue and scattered into the neighborhood.

Sutton was captured within minutes, two blocks from the penitentiary. He later claimed credit for the tunnel’s design and construction. Klinedinst was out for three hours, and Russell was shot and captured when he walked into a police trap at the home of a former girlfriend.

James Grace returned to the penitentiary early on the morning of April 11, rang the doorbell, and asked to be let back in. He was hungry.

All the escaped inmates were eventually recaptured, and the prison staff filled the tunnel with ash from the prison incinerator.

We believe that this is the time to study the archeological remains of the tunnel, still running from Cell 68 to the penitentiary’s front terrace. We have already raised funds to open Cellblock Seven to the public for the first time. This massive, vaulted cellblock will be open in May of 2005, bringing visitors to the exact site of the tunnel on the 60th anniversary of it’s completion.

What remains of the tunnel?
Certainly traces will remain of the bracing system, and perhaps the lighting and makeshift ladders can be discovered as well. And the white ash fill will make the tunnel itself easy to find in the dark soil.

Now, as part of a season-long commemoration of the tunnel’s 60th anniversary, our Board of Directors and staff are committed to raising $15,000 (to be matched with other sources) to support a careful archeological investigation of the tunnel. The work will be completed during the summer of 2005. We hope you will join us!