Pennsylvania correctional reform System
Abstract
The Pennsylvania Prison society established in Philadelphia in 1787 was aimed at bettering the prison inmates’ conditions and improving how prison inmates were treated. The leaders’ Quaker clergy targeted the reduction of corporal punishment in jails and prisons. The leaders worked at creating a reform as a religious experience where the convicted individuals would be allowed to pursue expiation for their wrongs through readings from the Bible together with clear contemplation of their mistakes and sins. The reform society was successful in promoting the application of “separate and solitary” methods of confinement; this was applied as a novel panel method that helped attain their philosophic object.
By the end of the eighteen century, most of the prisons had attained a congregate living condition where the inmates were allowed to work in the jail workshops. The prison society members in Pennsylvania viewed that congregate mode of living had a high contribution to the prisons becoming crime schools. This resulted in the higher criminally sophisticated prisoners recruiting the younger prisoners for their criminal activities and exploits. With this, the Quakers viewed that solitary contemplation of God had high input in individual reformation.
Pennsylvania correctional reform System
The Pennsylvania correctional reform is based on the principle that solitary confinement natures and encourages reformation and penitence. This view was promoted by the Philadelphia society, which aimed at alleviating the situation in the public missions. With this, the paper focuses on the examination of the reform process, its purpose, and its influence in the current system.
Groups Associated with Reform
The idea of reforming the prison system was promoted and encouraged by the Philadelphia society. It aimed at lessening the miseries experienced in the public prisons with the most active members of the society being Quakers. The founder of Pennsylvania colony, William Penn, having experienced suffering in England prisons steered reforms in the year 1680. The reforms entailed those with small crimes being given bail and those with more severe crimes receiving punishments with hard labor (Greenleaf, 2011). The jails were reformed and made to be workhouses where they would work in most days and would learn how to trade so that they would be useful when released. They were provided with basic health care and free food. Humiliation and torture were replaced with humanity, modicum, and dignity.
Later in 1787, Benjamin Franklin, together with Quakers, created the Philadelphia Society to ease the miseries being experienced in public prisons (Poortvliet, 2003). The group was later known as the Pennsylvania Prison society, where they started promoting significant reforms in the prison systems. Their wish was granted in 1970 when the legislation passed, and the city jail situated in Walnut Street was changed to the country’s first penitentiary in 1773. It became a prison with the main purpose of reform and rehabilitation. The Quakers held that the separate system should be introduced, and the prisoners would be given a chance to seek penance through reflection and isolation.
This resulted in the Walnut Street jail being changed to a small one-person room with a small unreachable window. The inmates were provided with tools and materials for making shoes, tools, nails, and clothes. The items made were used in the prison systems with the excess being sold to the public. The Eastern State Penitentiary applied the “separate philosophy” in 1829. This led to the prisoners being placed in solitary confinement where the cells were 16 feet high, 7.5 feet wide, and almost 12 feet. Also, an exercise yard fully enclosed was attached in every cell to avoid contact among the prisoners. The prisoners were only able to see the institution officers and rare visitors only.
Also, solitary penitence was modified in a way that could include work performances such as weaving and shoemaking (Vaux, 1884). The reformed Pennsylvania system influenced many prisons to the extent of dominating European prisons. However, critics in the US debated that the reforms were costly and could harm the inmates’ minds. With time, this system was surpassed by the Auburn system in the United States.
Reasoning Why
The Pennsylvania prison society in Philadelphia was aimed at improving the prison conditions and humanizing how prison inmates were treated. The society leaders are known as Quakers aimed at reducing the application of corporal punishment in jails and prisons. They worked at refraining rectifications as a religious experience where inmates would be able to seek penance for their sins through contemplation and Bible reading for their misdeeds. Society was able to promote the application of separate solitary confinement as a new punishing method. By the end of the eighteenth century, most prisons had adapted a congregate living situation where inmates were now allowed to work in the jail-based workshops. The Pennsylvania Prison Society members viewed that this form of living led to the prisons becoming crime schools (Barnes, 1921). The criminally sophisticated inmates were able to recruit the younger ones to join and participate in their criminal exploits. Therefore, they argued that there was a need for reform of the congregate living situation to assist in stopping the crime. The Quakers had the idea that solitary contemplation of God could have high motivation to a prisoners’ genuine individual reform. This, therefore, led to their pushing towards solitary contemplation to assist in the reformation process.
Successful?
Together with a group known as Quakers, Benjamin Franklin created Philadelphia society aimed at relieving miseries from public prisons in 1787. The group was later known as the Pennsylvania Society, where they started petitioning for significant public prison changes. These reforms were granted in 1790 when the legislation was passed, and the city jail built on Walnut Street was converted to the first penitentiary, this allowed the prison to enable reform and rehabilitation (Kaeble & Cowhig, 2018). The reform group believed that a separate system should be created, allowing a prisoner to seek penitence via reflection and isolation. This idea led to the Walnut street Jail being converted to a small room for one person containing a small unreachable window added. The inmates were also allowed to work in different work stations and would make shoes, clothes, and tools. These items were used in the prison systems with the excess being sold to the public. The rooms allowed the prisoners only to see their guards and few visitors. They would see their fellow inmates only at specific periods of the day.
The reforms led to officials and dignitaries from different parts of the state visiting to have a view of the reforms for themselves. The reforms were named Pennsylvania Prison systems, which led to the following changes. The prisoners were introduced to isolation, which helped in fostering penitence since the inmate had more time to reflect on his or her misconduct (pennsylvania department of corrections, 2020). The system brought about a humanitarian base where they provided the prisoners with better health care and better food. Also, the prisoners were allowed to work alone, learn how to make goods, and trade. The prisons’ focus shifted from retribution to rehabilitation.
Direct Influences
Today, the Pennsylvania Prison Society is known to be the leading advocate of enlightened reactions in corrections. Also, society proceeds to advocates for programs aimed at assisting prisoners together with their families during the incarceration period. They also push for programs that help the offenders when they reintegrate back into the community. Also, they influenced a range of educational programs provided to the general public. They have also assisted in depoliticizing the debate on criminal justice policy.
Current Corrections
Presently, the justice system is leaning on the community correction more than the earlier times. Community corrections entail any program that assists in supervising and managing offenders outside the traditional foundations that have direction by the legal authority to enforce sanctions in the case of in compliance. In 2016, the Bureau of Justice Statistics informed there to be approximate 6,613,500 adults under supervision in Americas’ correctional system (Wodahl & Garland, 2009). Over half of the number of those adults are placed under community supervision. Therefore, the reforms have been able to change the view that correction entails penal institutions with barbed wire since there have been reforms such as community corrections.
Also, the reforms created utilization of evidence-based corrections, which is useful for gathering scientific evidence that is well focused on how an individual is treated with institutions and into the community. Using this, the criminologists can view what is positively affecting incarcerated offenders. There has been the introduction of drug court, parole, a reentry court, and family court. This has led to a focus on the best correction method application in different cases. Also, the current minds have been able to make use of evidence-based corrections to assist in presenting with the best method to help the inmate during their correction process.
Changes
Throughout correction history, there have been different correction methods showing the correction system to have evolved from brutal, harsh, and inhumane methods to the current rehabilitation methods. In the current correctional systems, there has been evolvement of different correctional facilities and different custody levels. There has been evolvement of different types of facilities where an individual can go for correction (Kaeble & Cawhig, 2018). There are also different jurisdictions inside the system with various facilities all for helping in the correction process. There has also been the creation of federal, local, and state facilities. Inmates can go to different facilities such as prison camps, United States penitentiary, federal correctional institutions, penitentiary, or federal correctional complexes depending on the crime.
Reasoning
These influences have changed over time to assist in providing the best correctional process for prisoners. Each prisoner is allowed to follow a given road depending on the crime and the criminal condition such as mental status or age. Also, these influences have been changed to allow the prisoners to be better and useful people to the society and community when released. Therefore, the country needs to continue with prison reforms to provide the best correction to inmates, allowing them to understand their crime and how to better their lives and serve the community after serving the given term.
References.
Barnes, H. E. (1921). T]HE HISTORICAL ORIGIN OF THE PRISON SYSTEM IN AMERICA. Journal of criminal law and criminology.
Greenleaf, S. (2011). PRISON REFORM IN THE PENNSYLVANIA LEGISLATURE. Prison Reform in the Pennsylvania Legislature.
Kaeble, D., & Cowhig, M. (2018, April 26). Correctional Populations in the United States, 2016. Retrieved from Bureau of Justice Statistics: https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=6226
Pennsylvania department of corrections. (2020). A Historical Overview of Inmate Labor in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania department of corrections.
Poortvliet, K. (2003). The Pennsylvania Prison System: History & Reform. study.com.
Vaux, R. (1884). The Pennsylvania Prison System. jstor.
Wodahl, E., & Garland, B. (2009, March). The Evolution of Community Corrections. The Prison Journal, Volume 89(Number 1), 2-20.
References