History

Charles Dickens visited Eastern State Penitentiary in the 1840s during a tour of the U.S. and wrote about it in American Notes, condemning the practice of solitary confinement. Dickens makes an appearance in Locked in Silence. "The Solitary Man" is an engraving from American Notes, the book Dickens wrote about his visit to America.

Illustration of a Race Riot in 1849. Racial tension frequently boiled over into full-scale riots. This riot and several others comprise scenes in Locked in Silence.

Eastern State is considered to be the world's first true penitentiary, capable of holding 500 convicts in isolation.