New End Date for Survey

Hope you are all enjoying your summer and staying cool in this heat! Things are still moving on regarding the prison building.

If you haven't already filled out the county survey on the Airy Street Prison Redevelopment Survey, now is your chance. The survey was supposed to close today, but they have extended the deadline to August 16, 2024. To date we have 364 participants who have given the county their voice on this topic. Let's make it more! Please share to your social media accounts so we can get the word out there. Once the survey is closed, you will be able to see the community outreach findings after August 31st.

Another update is that the Engage Montco has put the At-Risk 2024 list of Preservation Pennsylvania which highlights our own prison. In that PDF there is an article about the adaptive reused of prisons (starting on page 12) "Given a new use that benefits the community, it’s possible to overcome the negative associations of incarceration." This highlights the fact that the Airy Street Prison is not the only one in the county, and even the world, that has had a new life breathed into it. Just today I ran across an old prison in Ireland that is now being used as a conference center, concert location, and wedding venue. Crumblin Road Gaol closed in 1996, and reopened in 2012 as a major visitor attraction near Belfast, Ireland. In addition, they have guided tours that talk about the history of it's former use.