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This is The Pennsylvania Prison Society located in Greater Philadelphia, PA

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The first prison reform was seen as early as 1787, known as the Pennsylvania Prison Society. This was just the beginning of what would develop into a much greater prison movement. Before the revolutionary war, the American justice system was based on English Common Law which was a system that was created in England during the Middle Ages, a brutal time for Europe. It was based around cruel and unusual punishment such as public shaming and physical reprimanding. A rather simple crime of theft could end in execution. As Andrew Jackson’s presidency pushed the United States further into the Second Great Awakening, it caused people to start questioning things they had previously been so readily accepted into society. One of those things included how far human rights would go? Who was and wasn’t worthy of their rights as a US citizen? This led to the heated debate on whether people in prisons deserved to be treated with the same respect and dignity as someone who didn't commit a crime. Although it seems like an obvious answer, for this new nation, it wasn’t a topic that had been extensively discussed prior. The main goals of the prison reforms were ultimately to improve the lives of those in prison through rehabilitation and education rather than punishment and better the conditions of prisons since they ran rampant of disease, violence, and inhuman treatment. The movement pushed for redemption as well as decreasing the number of incarcerated people through legislative actions. This movement was incredibly successful. Some notable achievements include making the federal judgment system fairer without endangering public safety, allowing probation and parole, improving conditions in mental asylums, and authorizing retrials with potential sentence changings. The movement also impacted society by increasing the employment rate after being released from prison and providing access to resources that help those who have loved ones in prison.

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From The Criminal Prisons of London, and Scenes of Prison Life, Griffin, Bohn, and Company (1862), this picture depicts women in all-female prisons being allowed to stay with their children after giving birth in prison.

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The impact of the movement on different groups of Americans in the period from the 1820s-1870.

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The impact of the movement on different groups of Americans in the period from the 1820s-1870.

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The prison reform movement had an immensely positive impact on the imprisoned population of the U.S., especially women, children, and the mentally ill as living conditions were improved significantly for those groups. Key reformers, such as Dorothea Dix, were essential advocates for better conditions in prisons as they were the first to investigate and question the prison systems of the time. In the early to mid-1800s, women were expected to inhabit penitentiaries alongside male inmates. These male inmates would often resort to violence during their sentences and many women would be subject to rape and assault while in these quarters. Even when housed separately from the male inmates, the female inmates would still be vulnerable to assaults as the prison guards were known to take advantage of the defenseless women. (The Prison Reform Movement). Those advocating for prison reforms addressed the issues that women were facing in co-ed prisons by initiating discussions of establishing all-female prisons. These new prisons would house all female inmates and staff to reduce the risk of assault between inmates and between inmates and guards. The new women’s prisons improved the living conditions of female inmates significantly. As shown in the picture above, female inmates were living much more prosperous lives, as some were even allowed to stay with their children while in prison after giving birth. This allowed for women to feel safer in spaces where they already felt so vulnerable.

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Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 

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Portrait of Dorothea Dix, circa 1868. Photo by Fotosearch/Getty Images

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Dorothea Dix, born April 4th, 1802, was a front runner and important reformer in the 1840s. She worked tirelessly to advocate for the mentally ill in prisons and against the conditions that they were forced inhumanely into.

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What were the varying perspectives and reactions to this movement in the period from the 1820s-1870. 

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What were the varying perspectives and reactions to this movement in the period from the 1820s-1870. 

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Health professionals and subsequently women, were incredibly crucial in demonstrating the importance of mental health in the prison reformation movement, resulting in the movement impacting more people than just the prisoners inside of the prisons. Originating in Fork, Maine in 1720 with the first prison, the prison system in the United States has been a brick in the foundation of the nation. However, the conditions of these prisons, and the conditions of the people living in the prisons, had declined rapidly as the amount of inmates increased. Rather than treating those living in the prison as people in need of reform, the incarcerated lived in jails such as, “Iredell [which] would hardly be just to remark severely upon a very dirty and neglected condition”(Dix). The incarcerated were marginalized and isolated, and forced into prisons that were disgusting and left them in worse shape than before. Groups such as the second great awakening reformers stood up for the prison reform movement. They came with perspectives and values which believed that all people were able to be saved and therefore those in prisons had the opportunity to change their fate. However, as a result of the declining quality of the prisons, these people were given little to no resources or guidance in order to do so.

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The House of Refuge (built in 1824) was the first juvenile detention center, built in New York.

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Another group that was positively impacted by prison reforms was children. Before reforms, children had been housed in the same prisons as men, women, and the mentally ill. Reformers advocated for separate juvenile facilities that would seek to educate and place an emphasis on rehabilitation and reform rather than punishment. This idea came hand in hand with ideas of public school reform as many prison reformers believed that the key to reducing the number of incarcerated people was to intervene early with education (The Prison Reform Movement). The advocacy of many reformers eventually led to the construction and establishment of the first juvenile detention center in 1824 which effectively separated children from the harsh and at times torturous conditions of adult prisons and pushed them towards a more educated and rehabilitated future.

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Dorothea Dix and her Advocating for the Prison Reform Movement

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Dorothea Dix and her Advocating for the Prison Reform Movement

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Dorothea Dix, as described above, was a crucial female advocate for the mentally ill in the prison system. Dix, as a result of the new wave feminism movement, was able to create a platform for the advocacy of the mentally ill. Dix, with her growing platform, submitted a demand to the General Assembly of North Carolina, exposing the way the prison system treated the mentally ill. “Also a man has in that County, very recently become so violently mad as to be quite unmanageable, and having no Hospital in the State, they have confined him, with, chains and manacles, hand and feet, and do as best they can”(Dix). This exemplifies the harsh reality of the prison system, as it is revealed that these systems treated those with mental disabilities incredibly harshly, and chained them like dogs. As a result of the growing platform for female reformers in 1848, when Dix sent her demand, Dix was able to expose the harsh realities of prisoners, and inform the General Assembly how important the issue was. Without Dix, and her unrelenting push for better prison conditions and the better treatment of the incarcerated and further the mentally ill incarcerated, the prison system, and similarly the asylum system would not exist. Resulting in people already in unfortunate situations suffering even more drastically.

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What is the significance of this movement to the United States identity. Consider the historical and current implications. 

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What is the significance of this movement to the United States identity. Consider the historical and current implications. 

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The significance of this movement to the United States was major because it made the nation a better place for the prisoners, and made the country look better. By 1835, America had the two best prisons in Pennsylvania. Additionally, reformers from European nations were inspired by the American nations, and used it as a model for building, utilizing, and improving their own systems which shows the amount of improvement the U.S. has gone through because of this movement. Teens in high school can be involved in helpful organizations such as “Books behind bars”. Books behind bars initially started at Westfield high school, and every year, students collect books, and donate them to prisons, or the organization itself, and earn profit which then has them create a bake sale for the support of the organization. Books behind bars seems like a simple thing to do for prisoners, but it is actually a privilege, and a right to let the prisoners read, and zone out of the place they are in. Books allow imagination, and can help decrease the stress developed because of the prison even if the conditions improved. The Human rights movement is another current connection because this movement is a nongovernmental social movement, and helps advocate for human rights, and the issues that go along with it. Although prisons have drastically changed since the prison reforms movement, there are still prisoners that are treated terribly which is the reason for the Human rights movement which helps to completely get rid of harsh acts, and punishments against prisoners even if they have done wrong things, they deserve to be treated like humans.

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This newspaper from 1872 describes the changes that were made to the prison systems in Pennsylvania, aligning to the values that prison reformers were campaigning for.

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Dix was a major advocate for better conditions in prisons for the mentally ill. She would often visit institutions to collect evidence of mistreatment towards those with mental illnesses in order to create a stronger case that she could use to push for better care for those in the prison system. Dix summed up her findings of the mistreatment of mentally ill inmates in a testimony to the state legislature of Massachusetts in 1843. This effectively persuaded the Massachusetts legislature to approve funding for a major hospital for the mentally ill that would house many inmates in the conditions and care they needed (McGuire). Dix’s mentality towards mentally ill patients also inspired many of those in charge of prisons (such as Mr. Vaux of the Eastern Penitentiary) to reconsider their prison systems and ways to better their practices for the wellness of their patients. This excerpt shows the author depicting how Vaux is reflecting on the effects that solitary confinement had on the inmates’ sanity (The Pennsylvania Prison System). The ideas that key reformers had brought to light in the 1800’s concerning the detrimental effects of isolation set the stage for the debate over prison reforms to continue, even to this day.

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A depiction of the silent system. Inmates would be commanded to do repetitive tasks in complete silence.

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The prison policy initiative is about criminal justice, and over-criminalization. This policy allows to reveal the larger harm of widespread criminalization, and helps create campaigns in order to have a better, just society. This policy also shows statistics and graphs based on the mass imprisonment of men, and women while using research, advocacy, and organization in order to evoke how over-criminalization harms society, communities, and individuals all together. The prison policy initiative is a nonprofit, nonpartisan policy that simply wants a better society as a whole.

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The criminal prisons of London, and scenes of prison life, at Old Essex County Jail