A Critical Facility Upgrade that Saved Lives
A steeply sloped roofline sets the Operating Room apart from other sections of Cellblock 3, one of John Haviland’s original seven blocks of the penitentiary’s radial plan. This distinct addition once held clerestory windows that supplied steady northern light to the room below. Such light was critical to the work of the doctors and inmate nurses performing surgery on Eastern State's burgeoning and aging inmate population.
Powerful Evidence of Changing Prison Policies in America
The nickname for Cellblock 15, “Death Row,” sends a chill up the spine. Here, several men waited out the last months of their lives.
The Chaplain’s Office is a separate small building constructed near the center of the penitentiary in the 1880s by Warden Michael Cassidy as his office. After his death it was configured to house the prison chaplains. The two-roomed Catholic Chaplain’s Office contains unique evidence of a prisoner’s faith –23 murals painted by inmate Lester Smith. Unfortunately, the severe deterioration of the Chaplain’s Office structure and the paintings’ fragile condition have forced Eastern State to keep the building closed to the general public.
