8.10. Growth of Prisons in the United States 
DAVID CARTER 
As mentioned at the beginning of this section on jails and prisons, the Walnut Street Jail is recognized as 
the first built institution in the United States to house individuals. Soon after, another prison was built, the 
Eastern State Penitentiary (ESP), and it ran like a prison for nearly 150 years. Many of the prisons today 
were first built on this idea of a separated penitent prison. Many of the cells in the prison (as depicted below) 
would open to individual courtyards where individuals could look up and “get right with God,” hence the 
concept of penitentiary (penance). 
Eastern State Penitentiary Design 
 
The State Penitentiary for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Lithograph by P.S: Duval and Co., 1855. 
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