Sunday, July 19, 2009

Hi everyone,

Yesterday, I went to the Eastern State Penitentiary. It's considered to be the world's first true penitentiary. It was in operation from 1829 to 1971. Unfortunately, I neglected to get a picture of the outside.

On this picture you see the kitchen building. It wasn't open so I wasn't able to go inside.








This Picture is a picture of the outside yard. The Comcast Center is also visible in the background. It's the tallest, thin, rectangular building.








This is a bit blurry. Sorry. It's a plaque commemorating prisoners who fought in WWII. They are only listed by their inmate numbers.












It shows a typical hallway in one of the later built cell blocks. Unlike the earlier cell blocks which just had 1 floor, later cell blocks had two floors.












This picture shows the size of a typical cell. The back of the wall, that's boarded up, was a door that lead to a small walled yard where the prisoner was allowed to exercise, garden, and/or keep a pet.











Here is a recreation of the original doors for the cells. You would have to crawl into the cell.












Th
is is a model of the original design of the prison cells. Each cell was totally independent of another cell and prisoners were not supposed to have any contact with any people. The designers of the prison believed that solitary confinement would lead prisoners to think about their missdeeds.






Here is a door for the cell. It's very intimidating and there's no window or anything on the doors so no light could pass through.












This picture is of the hallway of cell block 1. It's one of the original cell blocks that was built at the prison. Very gloomy

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

My first trip in Pennsylvania

Hi every one. Now I am in Pennsylvania. It is a nice State in the USA.
First I visited Philadelphia. It was garde... Have a look at the pictures.
The first picture is of Philadelphia's city hall.











The court room picture is of the British style court room that existed in Independence Hall.







I visited Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was signed.

Independence Hall was the center of Pennsylvania's judicial system. The three chairs in the back is where the judges would sit. The round table is where the lawyers would sit and the black barred area that I am looking at, is where the defendant would be standing.





The room where the Declaration of Independence was signed is the last place that I visited. I am standing where George Washington was sitting during the meeting.