Punishment is a term that has a very rich history. When people think of punishment, the first thing that comes to their minds is offenders. The term corrections started in the 1950’s before that it was called penology (Currie, 2013) . Penal stood for punishment. Penal comes from the Latin word penalize which loosely translated means punishment. In the 1950’s the penal system evolved, and it changed its focus from punishment to rehabilitation. This paper will critically analyze the prison system and the basic principles that govern prisons.
The history of prison development is similar to the punishment history. There are two systems that have been developed over time: these systems are the Auburn system and the Pennsylvania system. Prisons labor has also evolved and adopted the prisons system. The Quakers of Pennsylvania realized that corporal punishment and capital punishment was inhumane. The then governor of Pennsylvania William Pen was the head of the Quakers. William changed the criminal code and capital punishment, and it was only used for people who committed homicide (Davis, 2014) . Hard labor and imprisonment replaced the bloody and inhuman corporal punishment. Food and lodging were provided for the inmates. However, the Quaker code was removed immediately after William Penn’s deaths. It was later revived by Dr. Benjamin Rush. The Philadelphia society in 1790 established the first prison in the United States. Prisoners in these jails stayed in solitary. The prisoners were forced to remain silent and avoid socialization to avoid contamination. Prisoners wore masks as they moved from one facility to the next.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The Quakers of Pennsylvania are the people who formed the general principles of the prison system. They believed that hard and selective suffering could change the prisoner's lives for the better, and under no circumstance should they be treated harshly. This basic principle meant that the prisoners could suffer everlasting changes. The forms of punishment or suffering included the total isolation of inmates, no human interactions, and total humiliation. The main reason why the Quakers used these methods was to prevent corruption, and as long as the inmates were separated, there were zero chances of forming criminal gangs (Davis, 2014) . Solitary confinement helped in ensuring that there were law and order in prison, it would be hard for the prisoners to riot or revolt gave the fact that they cannot form groups or socialize with other inmates. This principle also protects the prisoners from rouge prison wardens who would take advantage of their powers and oppress the prisoners. In other words, with the principles in place, everybody is controlled and have to act in a certain way.
The five principles had a lot of effect on the prisoners, given the fact that they were locked up alone in small rooms. It gave the prisoners ample time to reflect on their transgressions and the things that led them to prison. It also gave them a chance to turn religious and ask God for forgiveness (Stevenson, 2014) . The Quakers of Pennsylvania thought that if a person is left alone without interference with the outside world, they would see all their wrongdoing. Living alone, eating alone, working alone can take its toll on a person to the brink of insanity. Isolation was the main punishment under these principles.
The principles of Pennsylvania system were slowly changed when the Auburn system was introduced. This new system was referred to as the congregate system. It was first implemented in New York in the year 1819, 30 prisons then adopted this new system. However, this system has incorporated some Quaker ideals of reformation. Humane living conditions where the prisoners are offered beddings, health care, and meals. They also have some strict routines and religious affiliations (Teles, 2016) . Unlike the Pennsylvania system, the Auburn system prisoners work together, share meals together, and at night they return to solitary confinement. Silence is enforced just like the Pennsylvania system. The inmates are forced to work hard labor like the construction of roads, bridges, and buildings. The system considers this to be the route of salvation and repentance. Unlike the Pennsylvania system the inmates these days are no longer forced to wear masks but they still march in unison, this form of march is known as the lockstep and is still done to this day.
In the Auburn system, the cells are built in different levels, and the prisoners are locked up in different cells depending on their offenses. First-time offenders and repeat offenders, killers, and thieves wear uniforms with different colors or markings depending on their classifications. The new system produces higher incomes that the Pennsylvania system could never make, hence making this system more cost-effective and practical. In the Pennsylvania system, the inmates had a high chance of going mad, and feeding people was so hard in comparison to feeding people in a group. Auburn system is the most popular system used by prisoners both locally and internationally (Davis, 2014) . The main reason as to why the Pennsylvania system was faced off was because it had no regards for human rights, and it barely produced results as most of the prisoners came out with mental complications. In conclusion, the prison system has come a long way from the eras of capital punishments, public humiliation, torture, and solitary confinement to a time where prisoners are treated as human beings and treated equally no matter their crimes. The prison system used today is the most ideal since it ensures that the prisoners’ rights are not violated and that they are fully rehabilitated.
References
Currie, E. (2013). Crime and punishment in America . New York: Picador, A Metropolitan Book, Henry Holt and Company
Davis, A. Y., & Overdrive Inc. (2014). Are Prisons Obsolete? S.I.: Seven Stories Press.
Raphael, S., Stoll, M. A., & Russell Sage Foundation. (2013). Why are so many Americans in prison? New York: Russell Sage Foundation
Stevenson, B. (2014). Just mercy: A story of justice and redemption . New York: Spiegel & Grau
Teles, S. M., & Dagan, D. (2016). Prison break: Why conservatives turned against mass incarceration . New York, NY: Oxford University Press
