Sleighton Farm School

Sleighton Farm School is an abandoned reformatory school for delinquent girls aged 12 to 18 in Pennsylvania. The Sleighton Farm School began as the House of Refuge in Philadelphia in 1826. It was founded by the Quakers, with assistance from the Pennsylvania Prison Society, on the basis that juvenile offenders should be treated differently than adults. The House of Refuge believed its primary goals were to retrain and re-educate at-risk youth, most of whom came from unstable homes. After one of the cottages had burnt down, the school eventually shut down, but still remains standing. These images capture the essence of what remains of a very troubled environment.