Prison Reform by Olivia Bratton

Dorothea Dix

aleberger — 2018-11-12 15:50:51 UTC

Early in her life, Dorothea Dix suffered from depression which led to her having awful health. This depression hindered her life for years and ruined many job opportunities that she had. Eventually she went to school to study mental illness and became the Superintendent of Army Nurses due to her medical background.
After touring numerous amounts of prisons and workhouses, Dorothea Dix came to the conclusion that the prison system was not morally correct for the sick and insane. The constant confinement, beatings, and loneliness hurt people who were clinically insane and mentally ill. This brought her to the idea to create five mental hospitals in the United States to help these people rather than hurt them. This can majorly be credited to her background, she suffered from mental illness herself and so she had a soft spot for this subject and she felt bad for these people because she understood their struggle. This whole movement was known as the Prison Reform, and these ideas are still prominent in today's society in the form of rehabilitation facilities that people use today.

aleberger — 2018-11-13 15:14:18 UTC

aleberger — 2018-11-13 15:14:42 UTC

olibratton — 2018-11-13 15:18:05 UTC

Reasons

olibratton — 2018-11-13 15:20:46 UTC

In the nineteenth century, the structures created to house the mentally ill and criminals were inhumane. Women and children, the sane and insane, and criminals were forced to reside together in gruesome conditions. In these environments the mentally ill were not treated as equal humans, and prisoners were crowded, chained, and beaten.

Goals

olibratton — 2018-11-13 15:21:08 UTC

To improve the situation, reformers aimed to separate different groups and improve the treatment of those affected. Movements pushed to create separate asylums for the mentally ill and remove children from prisons by creating Juvenile Detention centers. Their goals also included improving the lives of the prisoners by implementing libraries and educational opportunities as well as reducing physical abuse.

aleberger — 2018-11-13 15:24:15 UTC

Effects

lbingeman — 2018-11-13 15:40:38 UTC

This movement reached its goal to bring about change in prisons. Many reformers believed that prisons were too focused on punishment rather than reform. They accomplished separating women and children, creating libraries, and improving the treatment of the inmates. They also helped to create probation, parole, and sentencing changes. These were created to help the prisoners reform, but it had many flaws including poor funding, unqualified workers, and not enough time to review all of the cases. They also believed that the architectural design of the cell could help with inmates reform. This did not work due to many solitary inmates going insane or committing suicide.

lbingeman — 2018-11-13 15:41:58 UTC

lbingeman — 2018-11-13 15:44:39 UTC