Old Jail Could Inspire Youth to Stay Out of Prison — but Only If It Survives | Jersey Digs

Knowing the prison was built by John Haviland, who also built Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, it would be nice to see this turned into a museum as ESP was. But if it cannot be saved, what you think will come of it?

What better way to enshrine the lessons we’ve learned from decades of mass incarceration than by transforming the remnants of Newark’s first penitentiary into a gathering place.

The old Essex County Jail in Newark was built in the 1830s by John Haviland. As the mastermind behind Philadelphia’s Eastern State Penitentiary, Haviland is arguably one of the most prominent architects of the early 19th century because of the hundreds of prisons throughout Europe his designs inspired.

Source: Old Jail Could Inspire Youth to Stay Out of Prison — but Only If It Survives | Jersey Digs