April 23, 2003 -- Here's a tour for those seeking something out of the ordinary -- a narrated journey through a former prison that once housed Al Capone.
Americans love something different while traveling, like the World's Biggest Ball of String or Wrestling with Alligators, but few of us ever see the inside of a pen -- penitentiary, that is, though we can now "boast" of over two million people in prison for the first time in our history. From this month, for only $9 or less, you can visit Al Capone's cell, death row and other lugubrious spots, in one of the nation's most famous institutions, the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia.
Built in 1829, the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia appears to have been modeled after Dracula's castle -- it's immense and spooky. It closed for "business" in 1971, reopening only 10 years ago for tours, and this year, it inaugurated its first-ever audio tour, the "Voices of Eastern State." For a place once infamous because of its mandatory system of strict silence, this is quite a step.
Inside, the corridors are illuminated by skylights in the roof, and for the first time, you can visit without wearing hard hats. When the "pen" opened in the early 19th century, visitors from around the world marveled at its grand, "cathedral-like" architecture and radical philosophy. The experiment to reform criminals, influenced by the Quaker idea of silence and strict isolation, soon became a model for prison design worldwide.
Before it was abandoned in 1971, it held a few celebrities of crime, including Capone and bank robber Willie Sutton, who famously was asked why he robbed banks and replied, "Because that's where the money is." The prison was featured in at least two movies, Return to Paradise and Twelve Monkeys.
On the state-of-the-art Acoustigude Wand, included in the tour price, you'll hear cell doors slamming, guards issuing orders, TVs and radios playing from the cells (after the silence discipline was relaxed in the 20th century). Actor Steve Buscemi, of Fargo fame, narrates.
Prices are affordable: for adults $9, students and seniors $7, children aged 7 to 12 pay $4. Children under 7 simply are not admitted. The pen is five blocks from Philadelphia's mighty Museum of Art and is open from now through November 30, 2003, Wednesdays through Sundays from 10 to 5 daily, last admission at 4. For more information, go to their website, www.easternstate.org or phone 215/236-3300.