Purpose and History Paper

This article’s purpose is to express the danger of breaking the law in England. Most of the punishments of our time are deemed cruel and unusual. The death penalty can no longer be enacted in cases of theft or highway robbery. The following paragraphs will describe the various instruments of punishment (torture) of the period.

Two forms of penitentiary emerged in the early stages of the United States the Auburn and Pennsylvania system. Pennsylvania system is a method which has a main focus placed on solitary confinement. This program is known as the separate system. The program arose in the Walnut jail, which was later converted into a state prison with the additions a separate cell for the worst type of felons. The inmates were placed in a cell by themselves where they would only see the correctional staff and maybe a visitor on rare occasions. The would work in solitary as well to make sure that they were able to focus on themselves. The Auburn prison system took a completely different stance. In the Pennsylvania system inmates were to be kept alone, in the Auburn

Prison reform was a viable aspect of the Reform Movements in the 1800s. Reformers wanted to evidently punish prisoners but they also wanted to make sure they maintained a sense of humanity. They did this by reconstructing prison systems, seeking ways to treat the mentally ill and more. Document A highlights the importance of good treatment to prisoners in order for them to be rescued and eventually work to become viable members of society. This document

The Pennsylvania System introduced new ideas of imprisonment. The Pennsylvania Quakers argues that solitude and hard labor were humane substitutes compared to the current corporal and capital punishments in place. The Walnut Street Jail was the facility where they tested their ideas. Within the jail prisoners were kept isolated from each other at all times and made to work hard labor. It was assumed that offenders would use the time to repent and reform since they were isolated and hard the time to do so. This was called the separate and silent strategy.

In chapter 10 of Corrections in America, the author explains the history of jails. The author also describes the purpose, function, and operations of today’s jails, the various types of jail inmates, and the characteristics of jail inmates. In this chapter, the design and supervisory options in jails and the issues in jails are briefly summarized. Overall, this chapter provides an overview of one of the most used sanctions in the correctional system, the local jail.

Public shaming, among other punishment options that existed during these times, was one of the most heavily relied upon punishments used. In using this approach, law enforcers hoped to teach a lesson to the offender and also reduce the likeliness of that person committing the same crime. Other very common forms of punishment included the following: placing people in the pillory, cutting off ears, whipping, and branding; the more severe and violent crimes such as rape and murder were punished through some type of execution ending the criminal’s life in death (Social Welfare History Project, 2012).

According to Clear, Cole, and Reisig, (2013, p. 28 & 29) during the middle ages various forms of punishments were imposed on the body of the offender. Authority of government grew, and the criminal law system became more fully developed. Other forms of sanctions were applied due to the rise of trade, the breakdown of feudal order, the emergence of a middle class. In Europe before the 1800s fines and five punishments were common: galley slavery, imprisonment, transportation, corporal punishment and death. Each

This may differ from one jurisdiction to another. This paper will discuss the history of the United States prison systems from the 16th century up to present day, including the corruption and prison reform. The History During the 16th and 17th centuries, before prisons or jails became part

The use of solitary confinement is said to be used to control inmates’ violent behaviors. In systems such as Pennsylvania’s system, the premise of isolation and seclusion would give prisoners time to reflect on their

Before the 1820s, most prisons resembled classrooms where inmates lived in large rooms together like a dormitory. The newer prisons of the era, like New York’s Auburn Prison, shepherded men into individual cells at night and silent labor during the day, a model that would prove enduring. Women at Auburn, however, lived in a small attic room above

There are three models of prisons that have been prominent in American since the early 1940’s: custodial, rehabilitative, and reintegration. Each model is designed differently based on its overriding goal, and this affects the physical design, policies, and programs that are implemented within each of the models.

American prison system incarceration was not officially used as the main form of punishment in United States (U.S.) until around the 1800’s. Before that time criminals were mainly punished by public shaming, which involved punishments such as being whipped, or branded (HL, 2015). In fact, President Lincoln codified the prison incarceration system in the Emancipation Proclamation that indicated no slavery would take place in America unless a person was duly convicted of a crime (paraphrased) (White, 2015). In this era prisons were used more as a place where criminals could be detained until their trial date if afforded such an opportunity. However, one of the main problems with this idea was the fact that the prisons were badly maintained, which resulted in many people contracting fatal diseases. Yet, according to White (2015) unethical and immoral medical experiments were also conducted on inmates’ leading to health failures. Moreover, because everyone was detained in the same prisons, adolescent offenders would have to share the same living space with adult felons, which became another serious problem in that adolescent were less mature and could not protect themselves in such environments

The delivery of punishment has changed significantly over the centuries. Up until the 19th century in England, imprisonment was not regarded as a punishment, it was merely used while the offender waited to be sentenced to their ‘real’ punishment (Bull, 2010; Hirst, 1998). Corporal punishment such as flogging, branding and mutilation, death by hanging, and transportation to other continents such as America and Australia were common punitive measures through the ages, until well into the 1800’s (Newburn, 2003). Although these extreme penalties are no longer acceptable or practised by criminal courts in England or Australia, in some ways, the past has

The Walnut Street Jail was first built as a city jail in 1773 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The jail was named after the streets it was located in which were sixth and Walnut streets. The Jail then expanded in 1790 in which a penitentiary-house was added. Walnut Street Jail is considered the United States first penitentiary house because no other jail was single-celled. During that time, jails that existed did not believe in the idea that inmate can change. The jail was built in Pennsylvania due to overcrowding in another jail called High Street Jail. Even though Walnut Street Jail opened as a local jail, they also had a plan for their inmates. This plan was to look at criminals positively and hope for them to change. Walnut

“The history of correctional thought and practice has been marked by enthusiasm for new approaches, disillusionment with these approaches, and then substitution of yet other tactics”(Clear 59). During the mid 1900s, many changes came about for the system of corrections in America. Once a new idea goes sour, a new one replaces it. Prisons shifted their focus from the punishment of offenders to the rehabilitation of offenders, then to the reentry into society, and back to incarceration. As times and the needs of the criminal justice system changed, new prison models were organized in hopes of lowering the crime rates in America. The three major models of prisons that were developed were the medical, model, the community model, and the crime