Prison and democracy

This morning I've been reading up on Eastern State Penitentiary, located in Philadelphia and after seeing some brilliant photography at the Art Museum last month taken from the prison only blocks away, I decided I had to investigate myself. How, I had wondered, did this most infamous of prison exist and I not know of it (indeed my fascination with architecture, organized crime, cemeteries and prisons really all do intersect nicely). As it turns out, I was familiar with it, however, just not by name. When I drove past last month, I did recognize it from photos and in reading the history, recognized it by stories.

But that isn't my point. I only mention it because as I was reading the "6 page history" (which is on the website linked above), something peculiar struck me... perhaps I was attuned to it after a very bizarre meeting during the week which somewhat follows the same logical thought progression. In the "6 page history" it talks that in the early 1800s -- when this prison was being built -- Democracy and the prison systems were the top two things America was focused on. So the question has to be asked: Is our government plan and philosophy so very flawed that the next top thing we do well is incarcerate? To me the notion of "Come to America, we have a great prison system" sounds like the next immigration reform someone like Giuliani -- or Dubya -- would tout... oh, wait, I think they already *DID*.

Nonetheless, if we have come so far in nearly 200 years, why haven't the basics changed? We know scads more about rehabilitation now than we did then, but we still resort to the 200+ year old notions of reform. Philadelphia got a brand spanking, shiny new mayor this last week. I was privileged enough to hear the majority of his inaugural speech--which by all accounts really was as inspirational as it was risky--and one of his items was reform... true and real reform. Getting those who have served time, who are out of prison to not return to prison but return to the productive workforce. It's a novel concept and one not even Michael Nutter would put a measurable metric to on inauguration day, but after hearing him talk, I know that there is a metric he's driving to--and I hope he's everything around his words in spite the pay for play government here in Phila.

And really, I would beg the question if reform was really all that elusive a concept 200 years ago. Certainly, Charles Dickens saw and wrote about Eastern State for the sad and debilitating mess it really was--but what do you expect from someone in the liberal arts?? Still, I will go, I will photograph and I will eternally be bothered that the state of our humanity has saw so little reform over the eons of history we purport we have learned from.

Mahalo.

P.S. I just need you all to know that after spellchecking... I will apparently never learn from my history of spelling the word "prison" without two i's. That's all!