Created for UCLA Fall 2018 Digital Humanities 101, our team chose to research and analyze Eastern State Penitentiary prisoner admissions database.
The objective of this project is to examine the controversial reform methods of Eastern State through a humanistic and analytical approach.
Established in 1829, Eastern State Penitentiary was a controversial and notorious prison in the 1800s that revolutionized penal systems by introducing solitary confinement and reform through mandating religion and literacy. This new incarceration system opposed the favored Auburn system at the time, in which prisoners worked together in silence. Some supported this innovative methodology while others opposed this unjust practice, eventually leading to Eastern State’s closure in 1971. Despite the controversy, Eastern State’s pioneered “Pennslyvania system” became the model for more than 300 prisons globally.
When taken out of people’s speculation, was Eastern State Penitentiary’s reform methods actually successful? Did religion and literacy education reform the prisoners upon discharge? For a holistic perspective on these questions, the following sections exhibit data visualizations demonstrating the reform methods in practice as well as place Eastern State Penitentiary in its cultural context.