Historic prisons are among the most popular attractions In London, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Cape Town, South Africa. Hundreds of former jails and prisons worldwide have been preserved, interpreted or repurposed—including the former Bucks County Jail’s transformation into the Mitchener Art Museum.

Why do people visit historic prisons?  Whose voices are reflected in stories told in them?  How do prison museums contribute—or cheapen—our national conversation about policing, mass incarceration, and our commitment to a fair and effective system of justice?

Sean Kelley is probably America’s leading authority on prison museums, a distinction he admits is not highly contested.  He was hired as Eastern State Penitentiary’s first full-time employee at in 1995, and oversaw all aspects of the visitor experience there for nearly thirty years.  Today he serves as Vice President for Visitor Programs and Services at the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, where he helps oversee the visitor experience on Alcatraz.  He writes and lectures on the changing role of museums.

Join him for a highly visual survey of prison museum programs around the world, drawing lessons and cautionary tales from institutions large and small.

From Jail to Museum: How Historic Prisons Shape Public Understanding is part of Behind These Walls: Reckoning with Incarceration, a multi-year initiative at the Michener that confronts the site’s former life as a county jail, which has been supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.