...“Assignment: Penitentiary Ideal and Models of American Prison Paper” The word penitentiary falls back on the story of Creation. In the Bible, the chapter Genesis 1:2 says, “And the Earth was without form.” This is how a penitentiary was back in the 1700’s; it was merely an idea that had not been concrete to others yet. According to chapter 2 of the textbook; The Penitentiary and the 1800’s, “The penitentiary was more of an idea or set of principles than a physical institution with shape or form.” (Burk Foster, 2006). The only strange questions asked throughout is, what should a penitentiary be? A penitentiary had purposes to be both secular and spiritual. Instead of a penitentiary being all about physical punishment, it was supposed to be a place of humane punishment for wrong doers. Instead of prisoners being bunched together, the true penitentiary was meant to have them separated from each other to avoid contamination of the body and spirit. I personally think that a penitentiary should be more like a place to make an inmate know that they did wrong by breaking the law. Today in the 20th century, many prisons are giving inmates too many privileges. It seems as if they are trying to make their sentence spent in a penitentiary more like spending it at home. For example, inmates are allowed to watch television, have visitation form their families on the weekends, yard time, work out, work different kinds of jobs for a certain amount...
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...Penitentiary Ideal and Models of American Prisons Randi Olds CJS/ 230 Penitentiaries were built to separate criminals from other criminals once they were incarcerated. The ideas of how a penitentiary should be back in the early 1700’s, was a place to basically separate criminals and keep them from one another. Based on what people thought, a penitentiary was a dark and dingy place. The buildings that held prisoners did not really look like prisons. But since people knew that the buildings held criminals they assumed the worst. Penitentiaries were meant to be a place people were punished for their crimes. They were supposed to be clean and healthy but most of them were dirty and dark. The principle goal of a penitentiary was to attain some kind of spiritual guidance while being incarcerated. Several reformers came to the penitentiaries to sit and talk with the prisoners teaching them about different religions. Auburn Auburn penitentiary opened in 1817 just thirty miles north of New York City. This penitentiary was small cells stacked on top of each other. The cells measured seven feet long by three and a half feet wide and were seven foot tall. The prisoners were not allowed outside because there was no courtyard. This penitentiary divided the prisoners into three groups. They were divided only to be controlled better. There were divided by solitary confinement, group work during the day, and slept in single cells at night. This penitentiary used solitary confinement...
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...Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon Design Two models A penitentiary had purposes to be both secular and spiritual. Instead of a penitentiary being all about physical punishment, it was supposed to be a place of humane punishment for wrong doers. Instead of prisoners being bunched together, the true penitentiary was meant to have them separated from each other to avoid contamination of the body and spirit. I personally think that a penitentiary should be more like a place to make an inmate know that they did wrong by breaking the law. The first model was called the Pennsylvania system. It was based on the idea of "separate and silent." The state of Pennsylvania built two big prisons, one in Philadelphia and another in Pittsburgh. These were known as Eastern Penitentiary and Western Penitentiary, respectively. Eastern Penitentiary was operational from 1829 to 1971, and there are some good photos and videos of it at http://www.easternstate.org/explore/flickr, and the Wikipedia article on it is pretty good. Western was a poor imitation of Jeremy Bentham's panopticon design (explained shortly), and Eastern better characterized the model as consisting of large cells that faced outside so each inmate would have a small amount of outdoor space or footage. Inmates could exercise in their own cells, have their meals delivered, and never come in contact with another inmate. If they wanted to plant a garden in their outdoor patio, they could. If they wanted to engage in handicraft...
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...Penitentiary Penitentiary In modern society, it isn’t commonplace to hear the word “penitentiary” in our everyday lives. Whether it would be someone being confined for performing and being convicted of a crime on the evening news to reading an article in the newspaper about a local figurehead being placed there because of some type of inappropriate actions either in office or outside of it. Back in the day, it was very out of place to hear about someone being locked up and having the proverbial key thrown away but now it seems like an occurrence in our lives. Where did the concept of the modern day penitentiary come from? Why do we practice this form of punishment today? This is what I will attempt to answer. To understand our current prison system and how it operates, we have to look back at the past. Originally, the penitentiary began as an set of principles whose purposes were both secular and spiritual, a type of place that would have humane punishment instead of the abusive and labor-heavy environment that you would find over in foreign countries, primarily in the western hemisphere. Over in the west, they used the aspect of physical punishment to expedite the sentences of criminals with serious charges against them, rather than wait for them to appear in front of a judge. Their philosophy in confinement involved having the inmates all being in the same living quarters and using a lot of the same facilities such as the bathroom, etc. The penitentiary here in the states...
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...Purpose and History Paper of Penitentiaries Ericka N. Williams CJA/234 May 14, 2013 Matt Holquin The development of prisons date as far back to the early Roman times, which forms of punishment were being used for offenders suspected or convicted of criminal activity. Prisons have developed and modified the effectiveness and appropriateness of punishment over time to function the way they do in today’s society. The correction process is among three of the major components of the criminal justice system, but could not be successfully complete without the police and the courts. There are two types of systems that prisons use to design and enforce punishment among offenders – Pennsylvania and Auburn. The systems tweaked and modified the original ideas, in order to form a prison system that would be effective and serve the purpose intended for criminals and impact and distinguish the amount of involvement of prison labor over time. History of punishment The history of the word punishment derives from the Latin word peonalis. Before the word punishment was used penology was the term used, which meant “punishment.” The term penology was later replaced by the term corrections. Our criminal justice system has a broad perspective of corrections for the criminal offenders convicted of criminal acts against another person or community. The use of punishment in earlier days resulted in public shaming, which was thought to prevent the accused from committing future crimes. These...
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...Punishment and Penitentiaries Punishment and Penitentiaries The History of Punishment The earliest history of punishment began when the founder of the 3rd dynasty of Ur, created the earliest code known as the Ur-Nammu back in 2050 B.C. In the Ur-Nammu code, there were clear statements about if a person does something, what he will have to pay. Usually the payment was in silver and in later years there were records that the death penalty was given to murderers. The Code of Hammurabi was written in 1750 B.C. By this code, the abiding principle was Talio, which had to do for mutilating or amputating the part of the body that had committed the crime. Under the Code of Hammurabi, the death penalty was awarded for crimes such as thievery, selling or receiving stolen goods, kidnapping, assisting fugitive slaves and for the sale of drink or even keeping a disorderly tavern. In the first five books of the Bible, Biblical punishments follow Hammurabi. In later eras, each civilization developed their set of codes and punishments to fit their needs and own beliefs. The Development of Prisons Until the late 18th century, prisons were used mainly for the confinement of debtors who could not meet their obligations, of accused persons waiting to be tried, and of convicts who were waiting for their sentences—either death or banishment—to be put in effect. Imprisonment, later, also became the means of punishing convicted criminals. During the 16th century, a number of houses...
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...History of Penitentiaries Penitentiaries started in the 18 century in England and wales and have been developing ever since. Jeremy Bentham and John Howard's play an important role of how penitentiaries and prison started. Penitentiaries systems are developing over the years as punishments towards prisoners too. There are different ways of penitentiaries prisons for example; The Auburn and Pennsylvania which both have a distinct process and way of treating their prisoners which I will describe further. The history of penitentiaries started in the eighteenth century, British society started to move away from corporal punishment and toward imprisonment with the hope of reforming the mind and body. These changes ultimately helped to form the way for penitentiaries throughout the world and the rest of Europe. According to Jeremy Bentham there are three different types of prisons. Using John Howard's work as a base he developed three types of penitentiaries prisons. The types of prison were House of Safe Custody, the Penitentiary House, and the Black Prison. Each had a different level of treatment for the prisoners; the House of safe custody didn’t imprison those individuals who had short sentence to serve. Penitentiary house is the next step after the house of safe custody. This one is where temporary imprisonment occurred. After that comes the black prison. “In the Black Prison, to strike terror into the hearts of its inmates, two skeletons were to lie slumped together one...
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...| Penitentiary Ideal and Models of American Prisons | Rekita Williams | | CJS/230 | 9/18/2011 | Jean M. O’Gallagher | The American prison system was divided amongst two different types: Eastern State and Auburn. Both prisons were run in very different manors and my intentions are to explain each prison and the goals that they had in mind. The penitentiary was designed to be a place where punishment would be given in a humane way to people who had committed a crime. People who were incarcerated could receive rehabilitation as well as gain spiritual improvement while serving their sentence. The prisons should be a place where an individual would do their time as well as reflect on the events that led them to incarceration and make a choice to change their life around. Prisons were not made to be a comfortable living space so punishments and confinement should be expected. In the Eastern State penitentiary the punishments were considered to be extremely mild compared to other prisons. Later the punishments in the Eastern State prisons soon became harsher and almost inhumane due to the prisoners consistent misbehaving. Lashings were the first punishments inflicted then things like iron gags, water baths, and strait jackets were used to inflict punishment upon inmates. This type of prison was able to hold around 250 total prisoners based on its design. The design of the building was made so that the prisoners would be under continuous...
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...Penitentiary Ideal and Models of U.S. Pr CJS/230 Based on the ideals of a penitentiary, what should it be like? Penitentiaries were built to separate criminals from other criminals once they were incarcerated. The ideas of how a penitentiary should be back in the early 1700’s, was a place to basically separate criminals and keep them from one another. Based on what people thought, a penitentiary was a dark and dingy place. The buildings that held prisoners did not really look like prisons. But since people knew that the buildings held criminals they assumed the worst. Penitentiaries were meant to be a place people were punished for their crimes. They were supposed to be clean and healthy but most of them were dirty and dark. Criminals were treated for their acts. They were make them realize about their worst behavior and also treatment is given to them so that they don’t repeat their sin again in life. It ultimately makes the guilty ones realize their sin and at the same time make them the productive part of the society. What was the principal goal of a penitentiary? The principle goal of a penitentiary was to attain some kind of spiritual guidance while being incarcerated. Several reformers came to the penitentiaries to sit and talk with the prisoners teaching them about different religions. They say the stepping stones in the new evolution of the prison system was the penitentiary. This model gave them new directions to the prisons. Although the very first attempts...
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...The Purpose and History of Penitentiaries Would you be able to envision what it would be like if we lived in a world where there are no consequences for law and or rules that have been broken? Our current Criminal Justice System is the aftereffect of changes that have occurred over a period of time. Throughout the years, components have been created to uphold rules and regulations and laws as well as punish criminals. Throughout this paper I will discuss the history of punishment and how prisons were developed. The impact and involvement of prison labor overtime and the Pennsylvania and Auburn system. History of Punishment Penology the study of punishment evolved in the 1950s. During this rehabilitation replaced the punishment of offenders and became the main objective. Also during this time the term penology was replaced by the term corrections. Corrections is defined as the supervision and monitoring of offenders, the secure holdings of inmates in prisons, and the treatment of problems such as drug addiction, mental illness and other services (Seiter, 2014, “Chapter 1, The History of Crimes and Corrections, What is Corrections?”). In the eighteen century an Italian theorist founded the classical school of criminology. His first theory of crime causation was linked to appropriate punishments. “Beccaria suggested that the purpose of punishment is utility or the prevention of crime. Included in his principles are that crime is an injury to society, that prevention is more...
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...The Purpose and History of Penitentiaries Vanessa Waller CJA234 March 30, 2014 Professor Jeffrey Newton The Purpose and History of Penitentiaries Development of the penitentiary system came about due to the cruel and unruly way punishment was given to criminal offenders, so more secure ways to house criminals were necessary. Before incarceration became the standard there were various other forms of punishment used in order to curb and deter crime. The Code of Hammurabi, “an eye for an eye,” was believed to be the first law established for dealing with crimes. This retributive punishment led to centuries of cruel and harsh techniques, many of which were just short of torture, for attaining “justice.” However, in time, these methods would be considered inhumane and inadequate in preventing unlawful acts. Eventually, the Walnut Street Jail was founded and would be the first proper American prison institution, with far less severe methods in dealing with offenders. Two different systems came into creation; the Pennsylvania and Auburn systems. But the key consistent factor in these early systems lied in use and profitability of using inmates for prison labor. In the early eras before prisons were fully established punishment for offenders were unsympathetic and brutal. Sentences of deadly, physical force contributed as the common potency for retaliation. Although fines were occasionally offered, they may have well been obligatory since corporal retribution was the norm....
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...A penitentiary can be defined as a correctional institution for those convicted of major crimes. During the 20th century, I feel there are a lot of changes made such as probation, parole, better living conditions, medical treatment and rehabilitation that were considered significant changes as well. But the two significant changes I will discuss are solitary confinement and the removal of female prisoners from the male prisoners. Solitary confinement can be defined as the isolation of prisoners from other prisoners. In 1913 Eastern State officially abandoned solitary confinement, although convicts had unofficially been in contact with each other since the end of the Civil War. Prior to 1837, women criminals were housed in the same facilities as males. The reason being there were very few women criminals and it cost less than building a different facility. Between 1873 and 1940, seventeen prisons were built for women. According to Foster (2006) one of the biggest changes to the penitentiary system was the demise of the industrial prison system and the realization and importance of rehabilitation as a main purpose of sending someone to prison. Rehabilitation is the restoration of someone to a useful place in society. Rehabilitation and medical model offered an unprecedented number of programs designed to change the behavior of men and women in prison, turning lawbreaking behavior into law-abiding behavior. Another significant change in prisons is the fact that prisons are...
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...Purpose and history of penitentiaries Name Date CJA/234 Introduction to Corrections Instructors Name History of Punishment History of punishment exists since of thousands of years. Though, it is very tough to decide when exactly human civilization started punishment system. There are some records to support the start of punishment system. The earliest legal code may have been that of Ur-Nammu, Founder of third dynasty of Ur at about 2050 BC. In this legal code actually a person will have to pay for something he does wrong. Usually the payment will be done in Silver Mina. Later, In Samarian records there was actually death penalty was given at murder trial. In the “Law of Eshunna” the upper class and lower class were given different punishment. This law use to cover every aspect of social life including marriage, divorce, Loans etc. The punishments were in form of monetary. The code of Hammurabi written around 1750 BC. By this code, abiding principle was Talio which has to do with mutilating the part of the body which has committed crime. In the kingdom, the legal rights and judicial process were available for everyone. But slaves and prisoners of war were not...
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...criminals also set by idly to serve out their time, many of whom deny their involvement in crime. As anyone can easily see, the modern prison is no longer run by ideal’s, the modern prison is run by the government. Originally prisons were supposed to be run by a set of ideals that were spiritual and secular and the prisoner was to be separated from other prisoners in isolation where the prisoner was supposed to think about the crime that was committed and think of ways to better themselves and work and the chapter also states that prisoners ought to work steadily at productive labor not sit Around idle as they often did in old jails and prisons. The principal goal of a penitentiary was for the offender to think about what they have done in isolation with no other prisoner contact. Eastern State Penitentiary, built on the outskirts of Philadelphia in a farming area known as Cherry Hill, featured seven long cell blocks radiating like spokes from a central rotunda. The facade of the prison would resemble a Scottish castle from the late Middle Ages. Auburn in western New York and at Sing Sing thirty miles north of New York City, two new prisons, Auburn and Sing Sing, were built to replace New...
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...In the book In Cold blood Perry Smith is a robber on parole from the Kansas State Penitentiary, a man who lies about killing a man just to impress. He's had an abusive childhood with an alcoholic mother who choked on her own vomit, and a father who wouldn't send him to school. Two of his siblings committed suicide and his only sister is afraid of him. His only friendship is with an Indian logger, have been with fellow convicts, and it's one of these relationships that ultimately gets him involved in a brutal murder. His childhood traumas have left him with some childlike behaviors, he still wets the bed and sucks his thumb when he cries in his sleep. According to the book letters from his father to the Parole Board, and letters from his sister. Perrys attributes are filled with constant violence and neglect. Up until he was five, his parents were traveling rodeo performers. The family led a pretty marginal existence, always on the move and often lived in a broken-down trailer on "mush and Hershey Kisses and condensed milk" (pg.171). But he was a pretty happy kid until his father started to beat his mother. Perry saw and heard his mother "entertaining" a series of men. She eventually took her kids to San Francisco, where Perry was getting into lots of trouble. He however blames it on having “no rule or discipline, or anyone to show me right from wrong" (pg.54). He ended up in a series of orphanages and Salvation Army homes, where he got beaten for wetting the...
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