The Silent Treatment

October 25, 2023 11:31 AM

Characterised today by the noise of banging, buzzers, and the cries of inmates, solitary confinement was originally developed from Quaker ideas about the redemptive power of silence, envisioned as a humane alternative to the punitive violence of late-18th century jails.

Solitary Confinement’s Unlikely Origins, by Jane Brox.
posted by Rumple (13 comments total)

In my utterly naive "what if" exercise, my choice if incarcerated would be to arrange solitary. No shiv making for me, but a home made isolation earphone with skinned rat carcass and other detritus. Sigh and book, any book, but another thread.
posted by sammyo at 12:44 PM on October 25, 2023 [2 favorites]

I was just looking at Eastern State Pen in Philadelphia on gmaps the other day, and I saw this article serendipitously waiting for me from the Public Domain Review. I like the Quakers ideas, and I hate that this one was turned upside down.

Looks like Eastern State goes all out on Halloween, and I don't know whether to be excited that kids are visiting a historical site, or disturbed that they are making a mockery of the countless number of people who died on those grounds. But it sure don't look quiet!
posted by not_on_display at 2:32 PM on October 25, 2023

not_on_display, I've visited it a few times, during spooky season and outside it. The museum is really, really well done (the audio guide is narrated by Steve Buscemi!) and the last time I was there, they had an exhibit on mass incarceration in the courtyard. I'm guessing the spooky stuff is how they make money to operate, but the museum itself I think works really hard to help visitors understand what the article outlines - the good intentions and fundamentally inhumane result of how the prison was operated.

It's also REALLY cool to tour a stabilized abandoned building, let's be real.
posted by bowtiesarecool at 2:39 PM on October 25, 2023 [1 favorite]

This view from space shows the grounds are a near perfect square. It's an amusing notion that maybe the artist who made this print deliberately distorted the dimensions because they hated the British and their stupid limey flag.
posted by adept256 at 4:10 PM on October 25, 2023 [1 favorite]

Wild. Florida prisons still use “wheelbarrow men” and outfit them in striped coveralls. You can see them deep in rural areas working in the roadsides. Inmates from the women’s prison used to hand sort recycling out of household garbage at the landfill near my house. Apparently it was a coveted work assignment.
posted by toodleydoodley at 7:58 PM on October 25, 2023 [1 favorite]

Thank you very much for this Rumple I had absolutely no idea of the Quaker origins of solitary confinement. For all it's subsequent perversion, I am oddly reassured to learn that this was not originally a cruel refinement of earlier barbarisms but a benignly motivated attempt to move beyond these.
posted by dutchrick at 3:24 AM on October 26, 2023

As a Quaker and a prison abolitionist, this was a deeply disturbing and compelling read. Today’s Quakers like to pat themselves on the back for all the ‘progressive’ views of the early Quakers, but it seems to me like the majority of us are still stuck in this same handwringing about improving the conditions of prisoners all these hundreds of years later, unable to admit that the institution itself is indefensible.
posted by chives at 3:36 AM on October 26, 2023 [2 favorites]

I highly recommend a visit to Eastern State. The guided tour and exhibits are deeply thoughtful about this particular prison and the history and current state of incarceration in the United States. The site is hauntingly beautiful.
posted by mcduff at 5:23 AM on October 26, 2023 [2 favorites]

not_on_display, my spouse works as a singing vampire at the Eastern State Halloween show and I just wen't through it on Tuesday. They don't use prison specific themes for the spooky stuff and still have the prison reform educational content available. I was also told by one of her coworkers that they make about 80% of the museum operating budget in the 8 weeks they do the spooky stuff. It goes a long way in keeping a 33 acre fortress museum operating the other 10 months of the year.

Enjoy it and definitely wear the glowstick if you're up for it.
posted by cmfletcher at 9:10 AM on October 26, 2023 [3 favorites]

oooh I had never heard of Eastern State Pen! my sister lives in Easton, about 1.5 hours north. def going to book a tour for next time I visit, but I really want to do the Halloween visit!!! (and I am hella jealous that someone has a "singing vampire" for a spouse!!)
posted by supermedusa at 11:03 AM on October 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

I love ESP! I live in Fairmount and walk by it multiple times per week. The Friends of ESP have really done a great job transforming what was a horrible, horrible place into a museum focused on criminal justice reform. And the community garden along Corinthian is lovely as well!
posted by grumpybear69 at 11:11 AM on October 26, 2023 [2 favorites]

I've only been to Eastern State once, many years ago. But that was where I learned of the concept of the panopticon. I have been fascinated by the use of them in workplaces ever since.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 11:06 AM on October 27, 2023

Sorry about that!
Thanks for the alternate views of Halloween at Eastern State... I knew that it had been revived as a museum and had excellent tours, but my knee jerked in reaction to this post. If chance ever takes me to Philly in October (maybe next time they get to the World Series?) I'll try a visit.
posted by not_on_display at 3:26 PM on October 29, 2023