So because of their resistance to the British system,
to the English criminal justice system,
the early Reformers in the United States,
people like Benjamin Rush and Benjamin Franklin and before them William Penn,
they sought to create a system of punishment that was,
that put reform at its center.
So its purpose was to reform the criminal rather than to simply punish them.
They did this by borrowing from the medieval ecclesial prisons,
by making penance central to their practice.
So we have the emergence in the 18th and
19th Century of the penitentiary system named after this notion of penitence,
which is managing dealing with one sin
through repentance and seeking forgiveness and trying to turn one's life around.
So this happened first at
the Walnut Street prison in Philadelphia which was established in 1790.
And over time this Walnut Street prison became
the Eastern State Penitentiary which was built in
1829 and lasted for well over 150 years.
The same type of model based on the penitentiary model,
was established in New York,
first at the Newgate Prison which became built into the Auburn Prison.
And they are often called the Pennsylvania and
Auburn system and there is a slight distinction between the two systems.
One is called the Separate system,
that's the Pennsylvania system and the other
than New York or Auburn system is called the Aggregate system.
The only difference or the fundamental difference between
the two systems is that while both focused
on solitary confinement as the mechanism for transformation of the inmate,
the Auburn system or the system in New York,
the Aggregate system allowed inmates to work together,
though in silence, during the day.
The Pennsylvania system was more severe and required solitary experience at all times.
So throughout their experience in a penitentiary,
the incarcerated person would be not allowed to speak,
would not engage with other prisoners and
even would have very little interaction with the prison guards.
And when they were transported from place to place,
their hands were covered so they couldn't even see.
The purpose of this treatment which may seem harsh in retrospect,
in fact was to have a pacifying effect upon the inmate.
It was thought that they would be less likely to be violent,
there would be less occasion for conflict because there is less interaction.
The second reason was that criminals were
expected to not speak with one
another so that they could not reinforce their criminal behaviors.
And third, that their new behaviors could be built out
of opportunity for contemplation upon their sin,
for Bible study and prayer.
So this was what undergirded or motivated
the development of the American penitentiary system of the18th century,
18th and 19th century.
And this system attracted worldwide attention,
and visitors from all around the world would come to watch and learn,
and in fact take with them back to
their home countries this American practice of punishment.
So in fact, the American penitential system or
systems of penitentiary became the model around the globe.
Of course the effects of solitary confinement turned out not to
be salutary or beneficial to most folks.
And there were early critics of the penitentiary model.
But the motivation was a positive one.
But I will just read Charles Dickens who came to the United States and visited,
actually the eastern penitentiary in Philadelphia and he said,
"I am persuaded that those who designed
this system do not know what it is they are doing.
I hold the slow and daily tampering with the mysteries of
the brain to be immeasurably worse than any torture of the body."
So Dickens, someone who was quite familiar with
prison life was quite skeptical of the efforts of these Quaker reformers,
but it's worth noting that the Quaker reformers were seeking to provide
a better system when there was less violent and more hopeful,
that would improve the lives of prisoners.
It didn't work out that way and
penitentiaries have become places of isolation without much room for reform.
But there has been in the American tradition,
this great effort to reform prisoners and to rehabilitate them at its center,
and much of this goes back to,
as I said the the efforts and
the religious motivations of the Quakers of the 18th and 19th century.
Graham ResideAssistant Professor
