Spring Break: The Great Escape: Stories of Resistance and Creativity at Eastern State

A Week of Immersive History, Storytelling, and Hands-On Discovery. 

This Spring Break, Eastern State invites visitors to explore powerful stories of resilience, creativity, and resistance within one of America’s most influential prisons, and to reflect on what those stories mean for our communities today.

Through interactive tours, pop-up talks, music, poetry, and hands-on activities, Spring Break at Eastern State examines how incarcerated people have used creativity and ingenuity, art, faith, and humor in a system designed to contain, control, and isolate.

Through these interactive programs, visitors will learn the powerful and fascinating stories of escape and resistance at Eastern State.

• Mini Tour: The Speakeasy: Prohibition, Temperance & Sound 
  Available daily, times vary
  In this short, immersive experience, you'll be transported to the 1920s, a period shaped by the Temperance Movement’s call for moral reform and Prohibition—the federal government’s sweeping ban on alcohol.

  Encounter the sounds and stories of bootleggers and clandestine musicians whose performances animated hidden rooms, built community, and quietly challenged a rapidly expanding system of surveillance and control. Reflect on how sound, storytelling, and shared experience became powerful tools for connection, identity, and endurance.

• Pop-Up Talk: Al Capone & Policing in Prohibition-Era America 
  Available daily, times vary
  In this short pop-up talk, you'll hear about Al Capone’s arrest and imprisonment, learn about the broader rise of Prohibition-era policing practices—including early forms of stop-and-frisk—,and consider how those systems shaped Philadelphia and American law enforcement and community relations.

• Mini Tour: The Tunnel Story: Ingenuity, Surveillance, and Control 
  Available daily, times vary
  Eastern State Penitentiary saw hundreds of escape attempts throughout its history. Though these escapes are often dramatic and sensationalized parts of the prison’s history, they can also reveal deeply human stories of resistance from the people incarcerated here.

  On this Mini Tour, you'll learn about the three means of escape—over the wall, under the wall, or through the gatehouse—and hear the stories of Latitia Kennard in 1840, William Cripy in 1852, Leo Callahan in 1923, and the famous 1945 tunnel escape involving Clarence Klinedinst and “Slick Willie” Sutton.

• Interactive Activity: Secret Letter Delivery
  Available daily, times vary
  In this sitewide interactive activity inspired by historical communication networks inside prisons, visitors explore coded language and symbolism in music and letters. Follow clues to deliver “letters” between secret locations around the site, learning how incarcerated people found creative ways to maintain communication, preserve relationships, and share news. Complete the route and you’ll receive a reward!

• Speakeasy Songs with Shannon Turner
  April 4, 2-3 PM
  Enjoy an hour-long set of 1920s standards performed by local cabaret legend Shannon Turner near Al Capone’s Cell. Let the music take you on a journey back in time to Prohibition-era Philadelphia.

• Drop-In Art Activity with Mark Loughney
  March 28 and April 4th, 12 PM to 2 PM
  Join Philadelphia-based artist Mark Loughney in his exhibit Pyrrhic Defeat: A Visual Study of Mass Incarceration, for a family-friendly, hands-on art activity that explores ideas of transformation through insect imagery. Inspired by the life cycles of insects—creatures that change form, adapt, and endure—participants will create an original artwork using simple materials. 
   
  Families will be invited to reflect on what transformation can mean in their own lives: growth, change, resilience, or new beginnings. Mark will offer demonstrations and creative guidance, encouraging participants to experiment with shapes, patterns, and textures to build an insect-inspired piece that expresses their ideas.
  
  All supplies are provided, and no prior art experience is needed. No reservations required. Visitors may drop in at any point during the workshop and stay as long as space allows. Space is limited. 

All Spring Break activities are included with admission.