American Prison History
From Eastern State to Alcatraz—solitary, escapes, and the haunted remains
America's abandoned prisons are monuments to failed ideas about punishment. Eastern State Penitentiary invented solitary confinement and drove inmates mad. Alcatraz was supposed to be escape-proof. Port Arthur in Tasmania pioneered psychological punishment a century before the term existed. These places didn't just hold criminals—they created the modern concept of incarceration, for better and worse.
15 articles in this collection
Articles
Al Capone at Alcatraz: The Fall of America's Most Famous
Al Capone arrived at Alcatraz on August 22, 1934, aboard a prison train from Atlanta.
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The Birdman of Alcatraz: Robert Stroud's True Story
Robert Franklin Stroud murdered his first victim in Juneau, Alaska, in January 1909. He was 18 years old.
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Alcatraz Island: From Military Fort to America's Most Famous
Alcatraz Island sits 1.25 miles offshore in San Francisco Bay, a 22-acre outcrop of sandstone that has served American power in three distinct phases —...
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Origins of the American Penitentiary System
Colonial America had no prisons in any modern sense. Jails held the accused before trial, but punishment was immediate, physical, and public — flogging,...
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Angola Prison: From Slave Plantation to America's Largest
The Louisiana State Penitentiary sits on 18,000 acres of former slave plantation land.
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Devil's Island: France's Tropical Prison of No Return
France shipped over 80,000 convicts to French Guiana between 1852 and 1953 under a system of forced transportation that represented the Republic's answer.
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Al Capone's Cell at Eastern State Penitentiary
Before Alcatraz stripped him of everything, Al Capone served time in comfort that most Depression-era Americans could not afford.
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Eastern State Penitentiary: Ghost Investigations & Evidence
In 1992, a locksmith named Gary Johnson was restoring cellblock 12 at Eastern State Penitentiary when he experienced something he could not explain.
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Eastern State Penitentiary
Eastern State Penitentiary opened on October 25, 1829, on a cherry orchard in what was then the outskirts of Philadelphia.
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The Great Alcatraz Escape of 1962: Did They Survive?
Frank Lee Morris was a career criminal with an IQ tested at 133 and a history of escaping prisons across the country.
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The Most Daring Prison Escapes in History
A look at history's most audacious prison breaks, from the Great Escape at Stalag Luft III to El Chapo's mile-long tunnel, and what each reveals about the.
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Haunted Prisons You Can Actually Visit
A guide to America's most haunted former prisons open to the public, from Eastern State Penitentiary to Alcatraz, with practical tips for planning your.
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Port Arthur: Australia's Most Haunted Convict Settlement
Port Arthur occupies the tip of the Tasman Peninsula in southeastern Tasmania, connected to the main island by a strip of land less than 100 meters wide.
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The Prison Reform Movement That Changed America
A comprehensive history of prison reform in America, from the Quaker penitentiary experiment through mass incarceration to today...
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The Invention of Solitary Confinement
Solitary confinement was invented as an act of mercy. Philadelphia's Quaker community in the 1780s proposed isolation and silence as a humane alternative.
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