Everyone has an opinion. Whether it's politics, religion, popular culture, or brand of coffee,

everyone has a preference. For most people their opinion is set in stone. It's an emotional

choice. It's rooted in habit. It's safe and comforting. But some opinions are darker. For example,

ask anyone you know what their greatest fear is and you'll get a five minute answer. Their

pulse will race. Heck, they might even shutter in front of you. No one wants to die and no

one likes to feel unsafe. And that means everyone has one big fear. Maybe it's the thought of being

buried alive, trapped inside a confining space while hundreds of pounds of dirt are shoveled on top

of the only exit. Maybe it's the thought of drowning or being kidnapped. But here's the secret.

Most big fears are really just all about the same thing. Nearly all of them are about losing control.

There are few places in modern culture that represent the loss of choice, the loss of freedom,

and the loss of safety more than prison. It's a setting that fills us with dread and inspires

hopelessness. But somehow also remains oddly attractive. Films like Shawshank Redemption and

The Green Mile and small screen hits like eyes or 60 days in each stand as a testament to that

obsession. And rightly so. Prison to many is a dark collection of pain, despair, guilt, and

hatred. And while it might not be the same as physically being buried alive, it never fails to

strike fear into even the strongest of hearts. But our modern prison system didn't start out that

way. Instead, it was built on hope and opportunity and change. Like all good intentions though,

those goals have been worn down over time by the worst of human nature. Whatever hope and

light they might have tried to bring into the world has been washed away by horrible darkness.

And no prison represents that evolution more accurately than Eastern state penitentiary.

I'm Aaron Mankey, and this is lore.

The idea of prison has been around since the dawn of written language. Early legal

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