Today I read Locked up by Laura B. Edge, chapters 1 and 2. I learned, over the years what is considered to be a crime has changed. Serious crimes are called felonies and minor crimes are called misdemeanors. The fate of those criminals has changed as well, based on what they have done. Also, it could depend on who the person was, like the rich, or ministers; they wouldn’t receive a punishment as harsh. As we come closer to the present, the book states that William Penn was against harsh and cruel punishments. He thought it was better for hard labor or some work. And as more people came to these towns more crime occurred, for some it was the only way to get by. Many people felt bad for these prisoners and thought they should be given humane treatment. Many of these prisoners died of sickness or starvation; some were sent to prison because they couldn’t pay their bills. Then, the American Revolution U.S. leaders found ways to improve the laws. In result less people were killed and the cities grew more and more. As the cities grew people had less chance for jobs, which in result, the crime rate went up. Which then people looked at as if you were poor or had a bad up bringing. There were people who didn’t agree with the violence acts that was held upon a criminal. These people reduced the amount of killings and harsh punishments. Some were separated by silence and were isolated from others. They wanted these people to seek God and repent of their sins. I find the way of life, back then, to be horrible, how they murdered or used violence against every act. The only good outcome is when William Penn came and change the way of violence. Execution was barely ever used, but when he died that changed again. It wasn’t as bad as it was in the early years, but it still wasn’t great. I do believe that there should be solitary confinement, but they shouldn’t be tortured. 

Summary: Today I read Locked Up by Laura Edge. In Chapter 3, the author gave a view on prison life after the freeing of slaves. They talked about how when the slaves were released from slavery they were very poor and jobless. This created a lot of opportunity for crime in the places they lived (slums, ghettos), so many of the African Americans ended up imprisoned. Once many people (of all races and genders) began to be incarcerated, a prison reformer named Zebulon Brockway noticed that the prison system was not very effective on making the prisoners better people when they finished their sentence, and that the prisoners should be helped rather than be punished. Zebulon later got a chance in 1876 to put his ideas of prison reform into action and he became the first superintendent of the first reformatory prison in Elmira, NY. In his prison, inmates were separated into 3 grades, 1,2, and 3. 1 was the best and 3 was the worst. If prisoners continuously followed rules or worked hard they got bumped up a grade. In his prisons, he and the staff focused on giving his inmates education and teaching them work habits. This was thought to help prisoners really become better people when they went to prison. Although as more and more people were incarcerated, the system became less and less effective. The jails became crowded and many inmates found ways to fake becoming better (as a person) and working hard, so they were released and shortly after they would be back in the penitentiary. Later, it was found out by the public that the people who wouldn’t cooperate and were mentally challenged were often whipped. As the US became larger and spread into the West, regions without laws became widespread. Many jails in the west were overcrowded so escapes were common. On the other hand, children who committed any crimes were thrown into jail with adults and were influenced by them. A woman named Julia Lathrop spent her career in working to create a juvenile reformatory that could help correct young children’s behaviors.  

Opinion: I think that it is interesting that people actually cared about how prisons were ran, and the best ways to make criminals better as a person. 

Support: I think this because generally people don’t care about others who have made mistakes, and label them as a bad person. 

Summary: Today I read Locked Up: A History of the US Prison System by Laura Edge, chapter 4 In the section “Progressive Era”, I read about how the population grew dramatically, which caused more opportunity for crime to grow in communities. With the large amount of people being put into jail, the prison system became less and less effective. Prison conditions were crammed and very unsanitary.  During the “Progressive Era”, crime was thought to be genetically inherited so people who committed any crimes were “sterilized”. This meant that they couldn’t have any children so they wouldn’t pass down the “crime” genes. Along with crime being thought to be genetically passed down, many reformers thought that crime could be cured with medicine just like any other sickness. Obviously, this wasn’t the case and crime was never cured. As time went on more reformers came up with ideas to end crime. They banned  things like alcohol, drugs, and created laws to “cure” crime. Every time a new law was made, there were always issues with them. The Prohibition, or banning of alcohol, proved to be ineffective when alcohol kept being sold illegally.  Additionally, in this era, parole and probation were used to treat inmates as individuals. It was used to guide prisoners after they were released from prison. As the number of people in parole and probation increased, parole officers had harder times monitoring the convicts.  When news came out about how ineffective the prison system was becoming, a man named Thomas Osborne came up with the ideal “prison”. In the penitentiary he was hired at he tried to put his ideas into action. He wanted the inmates to learn self-respect and responsibility before they came out of prison. Though, many people disagreed with Osborne’s system, so after only 2 years he was forced to resign and the system wasn’t used again.  Many of the ideals in the Progressive Era fell short of what they tried to be.  

Opinion: I personally thought this section of reading wasn’t as interesting as Chapter 3. 

Support: I think it is because there are more facts listed in this chapter, rather than it being almost like a story. 

 Chapter 8, however, focused on the trend of crimes during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. With crime rates going up (even involving gruesome murder), punishments needed to get stricter. “Lawmakers responded to voters in their districts by passing harsh new sentencing laws” author Laura B. Edge states.  More prisons were built and more police officers were hired to work longer shifts. In the early 1990’s a three-strike-law was passed that meant repeated crimes will not be tolerated (even if that was a crime as small as stealing a pizza). The death penalty was brought back and was heavily voted. I enjoyed reading this article. It showed some of the neglected facts of capital punishment.