Purpose And History Of Corrections: The Early Prison System
Purpose and History of Corrections
Jessica Malone
CJA/223
January 27, 2013
Jeffery Newton
Purpose and History of Corrections
For most, luckily corrections have come a long way since the days of torture and the rack. In the following, history of punishment will discussed as well as the things that drove the reform of punishment. As punishment evolved so did the use and prisons. The following will dissect the early prison systems and how they matured over time. Two early systems, the Pennsylvania system and the Auburn system were used and will be compared against each other. Finally how prison labor impacted, and has always been involved in corrections will be discussed.
To understand how far society has come on the subject one must …show more content…
know what is punishment and where did it get its foundation. Murtagh (2005), “Punishment has been defined as the deliberate infliction of suffering on a supposed or actual offender.” Modern day punishment is called corrections but has used the names of penology or penal actions in it’s life time. Punishments used as early responses to crime by today’s standards were extreme. Early responses were brutal and included things like torture, beatings, branding and mutilation. Early examples of these responses are liars may have their tongue’s cut out, or that thieves have their fingers, or hands cut off. Another early response to crime was transportation. Transportation is the act of literally removing the criminal from the society in which they committed their crime. Often, transportation was to undesirable locations in the wilderness or newly established colonies. More refined then the other but by no means on today’s level was the use of stocks and pillories. Given these practices another crude practice to early crime was the conditions of the detention centers themselves.
The prison system at its roots would start with early jails. The beginning of prison reform can be traced back to John Howard and his reform of the jails in 1773. John Howard having been imprisoned himself vowed to correct the jail conditions as a whole. He started to see his effort bear fruit with the passing of the penitentiary act in 1779 by English parliament. The next major development came in 1870 with the reformatory era, this era focused more on the offender’s future and bettering it then had ever been done before. In 1910 another change came into place called the industrial prison era. Due to the exponentially growing prison population this era focused on being able to bring money back into the prison the industrial prison era focused on using the free labor available to produce sellable goods. In 1935 a period of transition came into effect. This period was largely due to the restrictions put on the sale of goods manufactured in prisons as a result of the great depression. In 1960 inmates started being viewed as sick in what is known as the rehabilitative era. In this era the focus was getting the inmates “well” before release. And finally in the 1980’s the prison systems moved into the retributive era. The retributive system focused on making the inmates serve hard time and keeping them isolated from the public.
Before the reformatory era had come into play there were two systems that were in existence.
These two systems were the Pennsylvania system and the Auburn system. The Pennsylvania system was known as the separate and silent system. This system focused on hard work and internal reflection by the inmates. According to “Encyclopedia Britannica Facts Matter” (2013), “It has been called a penal method based on the principal that solitary confinement fosters penance and encourages reformation.” This system allowed for no interaction between inmates and drove the mental illness numbers through the roof. Inmates were expected to conduct manual labor by themselves in their very small cells which resulted in minimal work output. The Auburn system although it started being modeled after the Pennsylvania system it ended up very different. Known as the congregate and silent system it focused on still enforcing silence strictly but allowed for workers to work together in a factory like setting. This was a vast improvement from the Pennsylvania system especially in the decreasing in mental illness problems. The Auburn system allows for much more production from the laborers at the prison in return bringing more money back into the
prison.
Prison labor has always been involved and had an impact on the corrections models. Prison labor has impacted the style in which prisons are run like in the example of the Pennsylvania and Auburn systems. Prison labor has also served as a deterrent for crime given the nature of labor that has been utilized over the ages. Labor also impacted the way in which prisons were designed to allow for maximum production in labor.
Over the years punishment and prisons have come a long way. If it’s reform or redefining punishment these systems are always evolving and always improving. The comparison of the Pennsylvania and Auburn systems shows how the corrections system can build upon itself. The final thought would be that only through reflection can a stronger future be built.
References
Encyclopedia Britannica Facts Matter. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com
Murtagh, K. (2005). IEP. Retrieved from http://www.iep.utm.edu/punishme/
Jessica Malone
CJA/223
January 27, 2013
Jeffery Newton
Purpose and History of Corrections
For most, luckily corrections have come a long way since the days of torture and the rack. In the following, history of punishment will discussed as well as the things that drove the reform of punishment. As punishment evolved so did the use and prisons. The following will dissect the early prison systems and how they matured over time. Two early systems, the Pennsylvania system and the Auburn system were used and will be compared against each other. Finally how prison labor impacted, and has always been involved in corrections will be discussed.
To understand how far society has come on the subject one must …show more content…
know what is punishment and where did it get its foundation. Murtagh (2005), “Punishment has been defined as the deliberate infliction of suffering on a supposed or actual offender.” Modern day punishment is called corrections but has used the names of penology or penal actions in it’s life time. Punishments used as early responses to crime by today’s standards were extreme. Early responses were brutal and included things like torture, beatings, branding and mutilation. Early examples of these responses are liars may have their tongue’s cut out, or that thieves have their fingers, or hands cut off. Another early response to crime was transportation. Transportation is the act of literally removing the criminal from the society in which they committed their crime. Often, transportation was to undesirable locations in the wilderness or newly established colonies. More refined then the other but by no means on today’s level was the use of stocks and pillories. Given these practices another crude practice to early crime was the conditions of the detention centers themselves.
The prison system at its roots would start with early jails. The beginning of prison reform can be traced back to John Howard and his reform of the jails in 1773. John Howard having been imprisoned himself vowed to correct the jail conditions as a whole. He started to see his effort bear fruit with the passing of the penitentiary act in 1779 by English parliament. The next major development came in 1870 with the reformatory era, this era focused more on the offender’s future and bettering it then had ever been done before. In 1910 another change came into place called the industrial prison era. Due to the exponentially growing prison population this era focused on being able to bring money back into the prison the industrial prison era focused on using the free labor available to produce sellable goods. In 1935 a period of transition came into effect. This period was largely due to the restrictions put on the sale of goods manufactured in prisons as a result of the great depression. In 1960 inmates started being viewed as sick in what is known as the rehabilitative era. In this era the focus was getting the inmates “well” before release. And finally in the 1980’s the prison systems moved into the retributive era. The retributive system focused on making the inmates serve hard time and keeping them isolated from the public.
Before the reformatory era had come into play there were two systems that were in existence.
These two systems were the Pennsylvania system and the Auburn system. The Pennsylvania system was known as the separate and silent system. This system focused on hard work and internal reflection by the inmates. According to “Encyclopedia Britannica Facts Matter” (2013), “It has been called a penal method based on the principal that solitary confinement fosters penance and encourages reformation.” This system allowed for no interaction between inmates and drove the mental illness numbers through the roof. Inmates were expected to conduct manual labor by themselves in their very small cells which resulted in minimal work output. The Auburn system although it started being modeled after the Pennsylvania system it ended up very different. Known as the congregate and silent system it focused on still enforcing silence strictly but allowed for workers to work together in a factory like setting. This was a vast improvement from the Pennsylvania system especially in the decreasing in mental illness problems. The Auburn system allows for much more production from the laborers at the prison in return bringing more money back into the
prison.
Prison labor has always been involved and had an impact on the corrections models. Prison labor has impacted the style in which prisons are run like in the example of the Pennsylvania and Auburn systems. Prison labor has also served as a deterrent for crime given the nature of labor that has been utilized over the ages. Labor also impacted the way in which prisons were designed to allow for maximum production in labor.
Over the years punishment and prisons have come a long way. If it’s reform or redefining punishment these systems are always evolving and always improving. The comparison of the Pennsylvania and Auburn systems shows how the corrections system can build upon itself. The final thought would be that only through reflection can a stronger future be built.
References
Encyclopedia Britannica Facts Matter. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com
Murtagh, K. (2005). IEP. Retrieved from http://www.iep.utm.edu/punishme/