The dataset used for exploration is a digital version of the admission records for prisoners’ number 20 through 1124 of the Eastern State Penitentiary. The admission book is from the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Records, American Philosophical Society. The digital source of the data is listed in the Magazine of Early American Datasets (MEAD), a source for and by historians of early North America. The specific citation is listed here. Here is the access to the complete dataset of Admission Records Book A.

The admission records book covers the years from 1830 to 1839.  The dataset includes a variety of categories such as name, crime and race/ethnicity and includes men and women. The original collector of this data is assumed to be prison guards of the Eastern State Penitentiary, but no specifics are provided. The admission book’s primary purpose appears to chronicle the entry and exit of the prisoners, but contains information about the prisoner’s trade skill, literacy ability and noted impressions of the prisoner.

My subset of the dataset covers specifically the description and discharge notes of prisoners during that timeframe. My choice of graphic is a word cloud as I’m interested in the words used by the observer and their perspective.

My first word cloud is the ‘Description Notes’, assumingly taken upon prison entry and/or during the prisoners’ stay for their sentence. The count of the word in the category is documented as (number) or the reader can select the word in the graph and view more specifics.

Given the size of the word in the cloud, ‘Religion’ is documented at least (120) times. Related words are ‘Religious’ (76) and God (54). Of equal measure is Catholic (25) and salvation (24).

Taking in the Description cloud in its entirety, it’s like a morality in poetic form. Sin (41), guilt (36) and soul (39) are weighty words that, in context of religion, may infer that prison can be the catalyst for spiritual change. Or that the person is too far gone – hardened (31) is a common word used for the unrepentant.

I selected eleven records based on the most common word, Religion. Just on this small selection it appears that the intake was to assess the person’s willingness to either embrace or convert to religion as the pathway to be reformed into a better citizen. Religion, in the intake worker’s view, did not include the doctrine of Catholicism or Judaism.

My second word cloud was on the Discharge notes, based on my curiosity on whether the targeted effort to convert the prisoners to religion have any bearing on their release from prison. Obviously, the word ‘Discharged’ – in upper case (404) and lower case (22) – appeared the most overall. ‘Time’ (254) has a connection with the phrase ‘Time out’, as in time served – the prisoner served the entire sentence charge or was partially pardoned (31) for the remainder of the sentence.

Specific to the eleven cases I highlighted from the Description notes, the outcome of the majority of the eleven prisoners – seven – were discharged and/or time out without additional commentary.  Of the remaining four prisoners who were discharged had the following added comments – were:

• Prisoner 607 – the Catholic – ‘Hopelessly hardened’.
• Prisoner 696 – noted as ‘ignorant’ – ‘said he was going to Baltimore to search out his mother- from thence to sea’.
• Prisoner 1068 – noted as ‘indifferent to religion’ – was discharged as ‘no hope’ (8).
• Prisoner 1102, who sold himself to the Devil – was discharged as having a ‘very favorable appearance of reform (38)’.

Reviewing the word ‘Demented’ (7), which could mean ‘suffering from dementia’ or given the religious tone of the first word cloud that the person might be evil, I checked the Description notes to see if these prisoners were attempted to be converted to religion. Only one prisoner –

number 995, from England, crime of Murder – documented to think of themselves as a ‘good Christian’ but was discharged to ‘almshouses’, also known as poor houses in the 1800s.

Finally, of the five Discharge notes that contain ‘Religion’, two prisoners were considered either insincere or were doubted about their profession of faith. Of the remaining three, two were part of the Methodist church – apparently the one of the doctrines to be considered a real religion.

In conclusion, I can’t tell if the focus on religion at intake and during the prisoner’s stay would have provided favorable treatment or early release but it’s not clear from these findings. Without knowing who the documenter(s) were and what their role was in the prison, I can only speculate – and poorly at that – of what their intentions were about religion, punishment and salvation. What it does make me wonder is if this emphasis on religion is present today in our penal system and what is its impact on the prisoners and their guards.