Fængsel! / Prison!

I mandags gik vi over på stationen og tog med toget til Philadelphia. Det er så nemt! Vi skulle ind at kigge og shoppe og - af alle ting - i fængsel.....

On Monday, we walked to the station and took the train to Philadelphia. It's so easy! We were going to town to just look and shop and  - of all things - go to prison.....

Vi tog nemlig i Eastern State Penitentiary, et knap 200 år gammelt fængsel, som var noget af det mest topmoderne da det blev bygget!

Fængslet ligger nær centrum og ser enormt imponerende ud. Det ligner nærmest en borg udefra.

We were visiting Eastern State Penitentiary, an almost 200 years old prison that was state of the art when it was first build!

The place is quite near to the center and looks extremely impressive. Almost look like a castle from the outside. 

Da det blev bygget, var fængsler sådan nogle fælles rum hvor alle mulige folk sad samtidig. Ikke specielt godt for nogen! Og slet ikke i forhold til smitsomme sygdomme. 

Så det nye fængsel var planlagt med eneceller og toiletter i cellerne. Fangerne fik mad hver dag og kom ud i solen. Lyder godt, ikke?

When it was build, prison was rooms where all kinds of people were thrown in together. Not good for anyone! And not at all good regarding contagious diseases. 

So the new prison was planned with individual cells and toilets in all cells. The prisoners had food every day and came out in the sunlight. Sounds good, right?

Der var bare det, at alle celler var isolationsceller. Man så ingen og talte ikke med nogen. Man kom udenfor en halv time to gange om dagen, men i en lille isoleret gård. 

Derfor blev fængslet så småt ændret, så de stakkels fanger ikke blev fuldstændigt sindssyge.

Al Capone sad der også. Vistnok bare i meget kort tid, men i en celle med en del mere luksus!

The problem was that all cells were in isolation. You didn't get to see or talk to anyone. You came outside for 30 minutes twice a day, but in a tiny, isolated yard. 

So the prison slowly became different, so the poor prisoners didn't grow completely insane. 

Al Capone was also there. Just for a short period, I think, but in a more luxurious cell! 

Fængselssygehuset skulle vist have været ret fint. Nu er det jo nærmest en ruin. Men det var et rigtigt sygehus, bare med tremmer for vinduerne!

Det mest skræmmende var deres statistik. USA er det land i verden som har flest fængslede i forhold til indbyggertallet. Flere end de fleste afrikanske lande, faktisk! Jeg er SÅ taknemmelig for at bo i Danmark, hvor man er uskyldig til det modsatte er bevist, og hvor man ikke bare kan købe sig fri......

Hvis du kommer til Philadelphia, så er det her sted virkelig et besøg værd. Så spændende!

The prison hospital was said to be quite nice. Now it's a ruin. But it was a real, working hospital, just with bars for the windows!

The most scary thing was their statistics. The US is the country with most prisoners compared to the number of citizens in the world. The number is higher than in most African countries, actually! I am SO grateful to be living in Denmark, where you are innocent until proven otherwise, and where you cannot just pay to escape.....

If you go to Philadelphia, this place is really worth a visit! So interesting!