4 Section 6.2: Prisons
As inmates enter a prison system after sentencing, they are typically assessed at a classification or reception facility based on the nature of their crime, criminal history, escape risk, health needs, and any behavioral issues that must be addressed. The goal of these assessments is to determine the dangerousness of the offender and the viability of various treatment options. Based on the assessment results, prison personnel will assign the offender to a particular prison facility. The primary concern when assigning an inmate to a facility is safety, followed by practical concerns about bed space. The needs of the inmate are also considered in the process. Prisoners thus have almost no control of where they are confined. Some prisons do allow for transfers to facilities closer to family, but these requests are subject to security concerns and bed space. Often, female inmates are housed far from family because the small number of female facilities often means that there are no options close to family.
Development of Modern Prisons
Prior to the 1800s, common law countries relied heavily on physical punishments. Influenced by the high ideas of the enlightenment, reformers began to move the criminal justice system away from physical punishments in favor of reforming offenders. This was a dramatic shift away from the mere infliction of pain that had prevailed for centuries. Among these early reformers was John Howard, who advocated the use of penitentiaries. Penitentiaries, as the name suggests, were places for offenders to be penitent. That is, they would engage in work and reflection on their misdeeds. To achieve the appropriate atmosphere for penitence, prisoners were kept in solitary cells with much time for reflection.
Philadelphia’s Walnut Street Jail was an early effort to model the European penitentiaries. The system used there later became known as the Pennsylvania System. Under this system, inmates were kept in solitary confinement in small, dark cells. A key element of the Pennsylvania System is that no communications whatsoever were allowed. Critics of this system began to speak out against the practice of solitary confinement early on. They maintained that the isolated conditions were emotionally damaging to inmates, causing severe distress and even mental breakdowns. Nevertheless, prisons across the United States began adopting the Pennsylvania model, espousing the value of rehabilitation.
The New York system evolved along similar lines, starting with the opening of New York’s Auburn Penitentiary in 1819. This facility used what came to be known as the congregate system. Under this system, inmates spent their nights in individual cells, but were required to congregate in workshops during the day. Work was serious business, and inmates were not allowed to talk while on the job or at meals. This emphasis on labor has been associated with the values that accompanied the Industrial Revolution. By the middle of the nin