Walnut Street Prison founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

 in 1790 is considered the first American penitentiary

Penitentiary

Penitentiary may refer to:* Prison or penitentiary, a correctional facility* Apostolic Penitentiary, a tribunal of mercy, responsible for issues relating to the forgiveness of sins in the Roman Catholic Church* Penitentiary...

, if not the first in the world. The word "penitentiary" came from the Pennsylvania Quakers and their belief in penitence and self-examination as a means to salvation. This was made a new and permanent form of combatting crime through the practice of solitary confinement

Solitary confinement

Solitary confinement is a special form of imprisonment in which a prisoner is isolated from any human contact, though often with the exception of members of prison staff. It is sometimes employed as a form of punishment beyond incarceration for a prisoner, and has been cited as an additional...

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Eastern State Penitentiary

Eastern State Penitentiary

The Eastern State Penitentiary is a former American prison in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is located on 2027 Fairmount Avenue between Corinthian Avenue and North 22nd Street in the Fairmount section of Philadelphia and was operational from 1829 until 1971...

adopted the practice of solitary confinement as a continuation of the Quaker practice.