PRISON REFORM Defining Question: Is prison meant as a form of rehabilitation or punishment? People/Things involved Enoch C. Wines Theodore Dwight National Congress on Penitentiary and Reform Discipline (1870) Philosophy Punishment: a pain or unpleasant experience inflicted upon an individual in response to a violation of a rule or law by a person or persons who have lawful authority to do so. Two Views Inflicting pain as punishment is fundamentally different from inflicting pain on innocents Based on idea of retribution, the proportional infliction of pain or punishment in response to a wrong Social contract: a heuristic device that illustrates how individuals give up liberties to act with aggression in return for safety Based in Enlightenment - Hobbes and Locke Is the social contract right? Are all parties willing/informed? “Retributive rationale the justification for punishment that proposes that society has a right to punish, as long as it is done lawfully and proportionally to the wrong committed by the offender” (Pollock). Punishment is a wrong that can be justified only if it results in a “greater good” Benefits the many “Utilitarian rationale the justification for punishment that proposes that society has a right to punish, as long as it results in a greater good for the majority of the population” (Pollock). Incarceration/Rehabilitation Not punishment Incarceration prevents an individual from inflicting further harm - devoid of pain Ex: house arrest, electronic bracelets Not without critics because of selective incarceration - holding some criminals longer due to a bias that they will reoffend (recidivism) Rehabilitation is the process of internal change brought about by external agents Ex: education, religion Do humans make free, rational choices regardless of circumstance? Or do they act because of upbringing or other factors that they cannot control? History Started mainly as corporal punishment Evolved into imprisonment, typically of the poor Evidence of a fundamental inequality? Ex: bridewells, workhouses, gaols Workhouses = “Bloody Code”: system of hard labor Role of England ¼ of English emigrants to U.S. were convicts Prison trades with England until Revolutionary War American system Pre-Revolutionary Fines, whipping, stocks, pillory, public cage, banishment, capital punishment, gallows, penal servitude North continued to use contract labor systems South continued to use prison farms and convict leasing Convict leasing - Hiring prisoners for labor, needless to say the conditions were horrendous Labor systems - using convicts for labor, legalized by government Post-Revolutionary Incarceration w/ hard labor, but traditional punishment was still prevalent Lines of race, sex, class Jacksonian Advent of the penitentiary; new form of incarceration External appearance, internal arrangements, daily routine = counteract disorder and immorality Challenged in the South Legal system remains relatively unchanged Based on idea that crime was tied to population growth and lack of social mobility Remove deviants and reform = successful reintroduction because crime is not considered innate Two systems Auburn/Congregate NY 1819-23 Labor in congregate workshops by day and sleep at night Walnut Street Jail, Newgate Prison Pennsylvania/Separate Rarely leave solitary cells

• published: 08 Nov 2016
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