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The Quaker Prison Experiment

The Quaker Prison Experiment

Update: 2025-10-21
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The Quaker experiment at Eastern State Penitentiary was meant to be a sanctuary for the soul, a place to reform criminals through silence and reflection. Instead, it accidentally engineered a form of psychological torture: solitary confinement. This episode uncovers the complicated history of this "Great Experiment" and then journeys to the offices of AFSC Prison Watch, where a new generation of Quaker activists are confronting this legacy by listening to the raw, firsthand accounts of people who have survived the modern system. 

 

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Westtown School, a leading Quaker day school for Pre-K to 12th grade is hosting Open Houses this Fall. 

Upper School, Saturday, October 25th, 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.
Middle School, Thursday, October 30th, 9:00 to 11:30 a.m.
Lower School, Wednesday, November 5th, 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.

Learn more at www.westtown.edu/fall.


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The Quaker Prison Experiment

The Quaker Prison Experiment

Bug Finegar, Ojore Lutalo, Bonnie Kerness, Zack Jackson