Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)

Memories of the Penitentiary Hospital

Photographed by Devry Becker Jones (CC0), May 30, 2025

1. Memories of the Penitentiary Hospital Marker

Inscription.
By the 1950s and 60s, Eastern State's medical wing had become an unusually well-equipped and sophisticated prison hospital. Inmates with challenging medical conditions were often transferred here for treatment.

In a typical week the operating room might be used for heart surgery, joint repair, emergency trauma, and plastic surgery. An ambitious psychiatric staff introduced new therapies in the 1960s. Inmates worked as clerks, orderlies and nurses.

The bustling hospital had a reputation for being well-run, if perhaps "a little mad at times...."

[Captions:]
Above Left: Making the Rounds: Medical staff visit inmates in the Recovery Room. Photo: used in the Eastern Echo, Summer 1958, collection of Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site, courtesy of Norman Maisenhelder's daughter.

Above: "Operation To-Day:" The men wheeling the patient are most likely inmate orderlies. Photo: used in the Eastern Echo, Summer 1958, collection of Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site, courtesy of Norman Maisenhelder's daughter.

Erected by Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site.

Topics. This historical marker

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is listed in these topic lists: Law Enforcement • Science & Medicine. A significant historical year for this entry is 1958.

Location. 39° 58.149′ N, 75° 10.303′ W. Marker is in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia County. It is in Eastern State Penitentiary. It can be reached from Fairmount Avenue west of Corinthian Avenue, on the right when traveling west. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 2027 Fairmount Ave, Philadelphia PA 19130, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Southeast Pennsylvania. It is also in the American Northeast

and in the Mid-Atlantic.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy,

New Netherland,

and one of the original Thirteen Colonies.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Tuberculosis Yard (a few steps from this marker); The Hole (a few steps from this marker); Incinerator (within shouting distance of this marker); Cellblock 14 (within shouting

Photographed by Devry Becker Jones (CC0), May 30, 2025

2. Memories of the Penitentiary Hospital Marker

distance of this marker); The United States no longer has the highest rate of incarceration in the world. (within shouting distance of this marker); The Big Graph (within shouting distance of this marker); Morgue (within shouting distance of this marker); Solitary Exercise Yard (within shouting distance of this marker). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Philadelphia.

Another marker is no longer nearby. 2020 Rate of Incarceration (was within shouting distance of this marker but has been replaced with another marker now near it).

Photographed by Devry Becker Jones (CC0), March 19, 2022

3. Memories of the Penitentiary Hospital Marker

This is a photo of the marker in its previous environs.

Credits. This page was last revised on June 1, 2025. It was originally submitted on March 25, 2022, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia. This page has been viewed 276 times since then and 17 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on June 1, 2025, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia. 3. submitted on March 25, 2022, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia.