Prison Problems of the Past and Present
The Walnut Street Jail, constructed in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s by Benjamin Henry Latrobe, was used mostly to reform prisoners instead of punish them. It was a very bland building constructed in brick. After a while, a cell-house used to confine prisoners in solitary confinement was built. These cells contained no benches, tables, or beds; just the bare necessities. Criminals from the entire world were sent to this prison house. Unfortunately, with all of the prisoners being sent to Walnut Street and the death penalty being abolished (with the exception of premeditated murder), the prison soon faced over-crowding and inadequate funding. This led to riots, mass escapes, and assaults on prison guards.
Because of the overcrowding problem, the Pennsylvania Prison Society and the Philadelphia Society for Allurating the Miseries of Public Prisons worked to build two separate prisons; Pittsburgh Western Penitentiary and Cherry Hill Prison (the showplace for prison reform in America).
Another problem that the United States faced with prisons was that many states were inconsistent when it came to training the guards. Some states required that the guards carry weapons, while other states had decided that they should remain unarmed. Luckily, today, this problem does not exist. All guards are required to be armed and have the proper training in all states.
In 1797, the Newgate Prison was developed. This was the first prison to have a separate cell for each individual prisoner. It also had schooling and religious instruction available to the prisoners. I think that because it housed children, prisoners able to be reformed and hardened offenders that this would create a problem in mixing the prisoners. They would learn criminal behavior from each other.
In 1823, Auburn separated prisoners as well, but only at night. They Auburn also had separate cells for solitary confinement, however they were very small and the inmates were required absolute silence in order to avoid contaminating other criminals and influencing them. Because of the small confinement areas and lack of speech, some criminals died.
Some prison leaders, such as Captain Elam Lynds used cruel and inhumane punishment toward criminals, such as whippings and beatings. This concept did not last long and was looked down upon. It was banned in 1838. Cherry Hill opened with extra large cells, lots of room for solitary confinement, and also lots of room for prisoners to walk for exercise and live alone without being so confined that they would not survive.
Today, however, we have installed basketball courts, television sets, radios, gyms, and even football fields on some prison grounds for prisoners to get their exercise. They also have use of a library and many can leave for work and come back when they are done. I feel that we are giving prisoners too many extra-curricular activities and not enough discipline. Our crime rates are still up, and the prisons are over-crowded. It takes years before a prisoner on death-row is actually put to death because they can file appeal after appeal.
In Salt Lake City in 1997, over 40 prisoners with schizophrenic behavior were strapped to chairs for long periods of time…much longer than necessary. They were forced to sit in their own feces. There are many cases of mistreatment to prisoners in the present, although not as many cases as in the past.
The prison system will never be perfect, and society will never accept every aspect of prison. I feel that they system nowadays is too lenient with the activities prisoners can participate in, but I think the idea of them earning their G.E.D.’s and various other training skills are important in the rehabilitation of prisoners who want to be rehabilitated.
