Slow, and Daily, Tampering With the Mysteries of the Brain

“I hold this slow, and daily, tampering with the mysteries of the brain to be immeasurably worse than any torture of the body.” Charles Dickens, 1842

Eastern State Penitentiary dominates Fairmount Ave in Philadelphia. The physical structure is intimidating, but the stories of the horrors that happened there are even more terrifying. Interestingly, though, the people who founded Eastern State and the man who designed it, John Haviland, thought they were creating a more humane and effective prison.

They were wrong. This week, Mazal and Fayge look at the life and career of the architect John Haviland, the legacy of his most famous structure, and the psychological impacts of solitary confinement.

Further Reading: (Some links below are affiliate links that earn a commission for purchases made at no additional cost to you)

The Prison at Philadelphia Cherry Hill by Teeters and Shearer

(Considered by many to be THE text on Eastern State Penitentiary)

Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Structure Report

Eastern State Penitentiary: Crucible of Good Intentions by: Norman Bruce Johnston et al

Trial and Error at Allegheny: The Western State Penitentiary 1818-1838 by: Eugene E. Doll

Architecture of Redemption? Contradictions of Solitary Confinement at Eastern State Penitentiary by: Myles Zhang

Finding John Haviland by Nicholas Pappas

Books about Modern Mass Incarceration in the United States
Chokehold: Policing Black Men by Paul Butler

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

The First Civil Right: How Liberals Built Prison America by Naomi Murakawa

Queer (In)Justice: The Criminalization of LGBT People in the United States

Effects of solitary confinement

1. This is the one I refer to the most on the podcast: The Impacts of Solitary Confinement: https://www.vera.org/downloads/publications/the-impacts-of-solitary-confinement.pdf

2. How Solitary Confinement Contributes to the Mental Health Crisis: https://www.nami.org/advocate/how-solitary-confinement-contributes-to-the-mental-health-crisis/

3. The research is clear: Solitary confinement causes long-lasting harm: https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2020/12/08/solitary_symposium/

4. The body in isolation: The physical health impacts of incarceration in solitary confinement: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7546459/

5. Psychiatric Effects of Solitary Confinement: https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article