The American Prison System
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The American Prison System
By
Tanisha Eady
February 11, 2009
The American Prison System
The history of the American Prison System dates back to the 18th Century in England. The English Government had a system of punishment for the citizens that could not repay their debts. The debtors were either pardoned or punished. The American colonies followed the English way without very much change until the late sixteen hundreds when William Penn adopted “The Great Law” in which he introduced the idea that felons should pay restitution to the victims of their crimes instead of being tortured or mutilated. The Great Law also stated that the death penalty would be carried out for the crime of premeditated murder. After Penn’s death the path of Corrections took on another form and went from punishment to rehabilitation. This began the start of the Great Penitentiary Rival.
The Great Penitentiary Rival involved the states of New York and Pennsylvania. Each state was determined to create a prison system that would work efficiently and still be cost efficient, so much that it became somewhat of a competition. New York was the winner. Each state used a confinement method by placing the offender in a cell by which he/she had no contact with anyone except for the guards or the clergy members. This method was so that the offenders could use the alone time to reflect on the wrong that they had done. The offenders also labored throughout the day to contend with idleness of their minds. The confinement method led to insanity and suicide among the incarcerated offenders. The state of New York kept the method but enhanced it by using the Auburn system that was developed by Warden Lynd. The Auburn system was not very much different from the confinement system except that the offenders ate and worked together with silence enforced by the guards. The Auburn system like many other methods had its pros such as a decrease in suicide and insanity among the...
By
Tanisha Eady
February 11, 2009
The American Prison System
The history of the American Prison System dates back to the 18th Century in England. The English Government had a system of punishment for the citizens that could not repay their debts. The debtors were either pardoned or punished. The American colonies followed the English way without very much change until the late sixteen hundreds when William Penn adopted “The Great Law” in which he introduced the idea that felons should pay restitution to the victims of their crimes instead of being tortured or mutilated. The Great Law also stated that the death penalty would be carried out for the crime of premeditated murder. After Penn’s death the path of Corrections took on another form and went from punishment to rehabilitation. This began the start of the Great Penitentiary Rival.
The Great Penitentiary Rival involved the states of New York and Pennsylvania. Each state was determined to create a prison system that would work efficiently and still be cost efficient, so much that it became somewhat of a competition. New York was the winner. Each state used a confinement method by placing the offender in a cell by which he/she had no contact with anyone except for the guards or the clergy members. This method was so that the offenders could use the alone time to reflect on the wrong that they had done. The offenders also labored throughout the day to contend with idleness of their minds. The confinement method led to insanity and suicide among the incarcerated offenders. The state of New York kept the method but enhanced it by using the Auburn system that was developed by Warden Lynd. The Auburn system was not very much different from the confinement system except that the offenders ate and worked together with silence enforced by the guards. The Auburn system like many other methods had its pros such as a decrease in suicide and insanity among the...