Solitary Confinement at ESP

          

         The Eastern State Penitentiary is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was the very first all solitary prison to be made. This penitentiary was made in 1821 and opened up in 1826. The goal this prison had was to make sure inmates had absolutely no connection or interaction with anyone until their sentence was served. We have now come to know that this is probably one of the worst things you can to do a person as punishment for a crime they have committed.

                To make sure inmates never saw each other, every person had their own cell.  Although criminals sent here usually didn’t have a sentence of over two years, they would have to stay in their cell for 23 hours a day. Each only got one hour a day to be outside, in their personal yard all alone. Confinement went as far as the guards bringing the meals to their cells every day and sliding them through a hole. Solitary confinement was such a big idea to this prison that each cell had their toilet with indoor plumbing before the white house did. This went on for a couple years until the prison needed more room because of the amount of criminals being sent in, so they made two more rows to add on to the original five. These rows were two stories, which came to be a problem for prisons on the top cell because they got no outside yard and had to stay inside their cell all day every day.

                When the amount of prisoners coming in overcame the room count, they started bunking inmates, throwing solitary confinement out the window. Two large eating halls were made and all prisoners ate at the same time, up to 700 of them in one room. Eventually the prison ran out of room and money and was forced to shut down. When it was shut down it was in a state of abandonment for 20 years. The complex started to rot and fall apart and was basically forgotten until the state bought it. They then fixed it up and made it safe for people to visit and walk around. It is now a tourist attraction where you can go and learn about the history of it and the people who were admitted there, including Al Capone. Another attraction at this penitentiary is their haunted house, which takes place inside the prison.

                In the end Eastern State found out the hard way that solitary confinement is not a beneficial treatment for criminals, or anyone in that case. Not only does it take up a lot of room in prisons when the demand to put criminals in jail is so high, but it was seen as a cruel and unusual punishment and in some cases people went crazy from it, or had a change in personality. Having a hard time going back into society and finding it difficult to return to reality was another problem. Solitary confinement still exists in jails and prisons when criminals are sent to “the hole” but it’s nothing like it was 100 years ago.  

Wave Energy

                 Wave power or wave energy is the transport of energy from ocean surface waves. It can be used for different things such as electricity, pumping water into other reservoirs, and water desalination. The obvious impact of this, is that it’s a better alternative for energy because it is less harmful to the environment. Wave energy has been around since at least 1890. But it was never put to use. The first attempt to use it wasn’t until about 2008 at a Wave Park in Portugal. Currently it isn’t widely used, but with advancements in the future it will reach a point of normality.

            

    The machine that allows all of this to happen is a WEC (wave energy converter) which is exactly what it does. Uses the oceans natural current to supply our energy and water needs. Wave energy doesn’t only come in one form. There are different machines used to make this energy. Some are directly in the middle of the water, others are on the shore of an ocean, and these are called terminators. These devices capture and or reflect the power of the wave. Depending on the wave climate and the device dimensions, they can have power ratings from 500 kW to 2MW. We have more machines including an overtopping device, a point absorber, and attenuators.

                The energy that is distributed is often used in distillation plants, power plants, and water pumps. Another benefit to these energy providers are they do not put any ocean species in danger of dying. Unlike wind turbines that birds often fly into, these devices just float in the water and basically mind their own business. It also doesn’t harm our species because it is a green alternative. It does not use harmful greenhouse gases, it hopes to replace them. Another benefit is it’s renewable. It is said that this energy will not run out until the sun does. The reason this is a reliable source is because the ocean never stops moving, as long as the waves still wave, we will have energy with this product.

                 A big concern that is always around is cost. For these terminators the only big cost would be to make them and or fix them if they did have a malfunction. One they are put into action they need little to no maintenance, causing the operation cost to keep to a minimum. This is wouldn’t be a bad price to pay considering the efficiency of them. No matter what way the waves move, they will still supply energy. They also help the shoreline by capturing kinetic energy of the tide. With less power in the waves, they will be weaker when crashing onto the shoreline preventing damage to the shores.

                Wave energy is a safe and efficient alternative source for energy if you take all of these things into mind. Other than helping with heat, electricity, and other power needing products, these devices can also help with the ocean which in all helps our earth have a happy and healthy ecosystem.