CCS DC Trip 2014

This post is mostly for the parents:

Our original plan for today was to leave on a flight from the Baltimore airport at around 2pm. We were then going to fly to Newark, New Jersey again, and then home to Seattle.

However, it didn't quite work out this way... my mom got a call when we were on our way that instead we would be flying out of Washington DC. I am currently on a flight with about half the group to San Francisco, and the other group should be leaving right around now to go to San Francisco as well. Unfortunately, none of us are sitting together because of the flight change. Hopefully, all of us will be able to fly from San Fran to Seattle as a group.

We will probably be home after midnight, instead of 10pm. This is a little bit of a disappointment, but at least we're getting home tonight!

This has been an incredible experience for all of us, and I know we are all tired but we are all sad to see it ending already. 3 days until grad!

(posted from the plane)

Today was our last full day! It was another busy day and kind of bittersweet. We spent the day in Pennsylvania.

First thing in the morning, we left for the Eastern State Penitentary in Philadelphia. Here's a little explanation of it.

This is a view from the outside. The penitentiary was built to look like a castle - this way it would seem like you can't get in and you can't get out.

These watchtowers were originally built as a kind of intimidation technique - they originally weren't even used.

The yard and stuff

A view down one of the cell blocks.

Here is a model of the original plan: to the very left is the exercise yard for the person in the cell connected. The policy back then (mostly proposed by Benjamin Franklin) was complete isolation. The prisoners were only allowed to see the guards, and they spent 23 hours of the day in their cell. This was quite a radical change from the prisons in those days.

A regular cell.

A plan for the original 1822 prison - a revolutionary design for this time period.

It was quickly expanded until its use ending in 1970.

The original intent of the architect was that if you stand right in the middle of the prison, you can see down each cell block. This plan kind of got dropped as more cells got built on, though.

Exercise yard, which was used later on in the late 19th and into the 20th century.

Some of these cell blocks were built into the 20th century.

We split off into 2 groups - here's one of them, obviously attentively listening and participating.

Interestingly, the mobster Al Capone's cell was quite well-decorated.

Throughout the day, we strolled on the streets of Philly... or should I say swam (we west-coasters aren't really used to the humidity).
This was the first national bank. This system was shut down by Andrew Jackson later on.