The Correctional Systems Research Essay

The Pennsylvania and Auburn Systems

The two primary early correctional institutions in the United States were the Pennsylvania and the Auburn. At the Western and Eastern State Penitentiaries, the Pennsylvania system was first created in the early 1830s. (Hanser 28). The method was set up to keep the prisoners completely apart from one another at all times. The system was so stringent that, up until 1904, those who were sent to prisons had to wear a black hood before going into the cells to ensure they did not know their fellow inmates. (Hanser 28). The near-constant solitude cells ensured that the inmates did not have any contact with the outside world and labor was a privilege for only a few well-mannered inmates. The systems’ supporters argued that the separation of the inmates from the moral contaminants would trigger the reformation process. However, despite the immense support it received from the antebellum reformers such as Samuel Gridley, the Pennsylvania system was very costly and only very few prisons implemented the program (Hanser 29). In the contemporary world, the supermax prisons such as the U.S. Penitentiary Alcatraz Island follow the Pennsylvania system of confinement.

The Auburn System

On the other hand, the Auburn system applied both solitary confinement and mass labor. The system became the standard penitentiary model starting in the 1830s, and its use spread from New York to other states (Hanser 30). The inmates would sleep in solitary confinement but work during the day in groups. The main pioneers of the system such, for instance, Elam Lynds argued that the system was more humane and emphasized more on rehabilitating the inmates (30). In addition, the system allowed the prison to make profits from the inmates’ labor. However, due to the regular riots and escape attempts, the officials started a classification arrangement of distributing the inmates to three groups; the well-behaved, middling offenders, and the worst (Hanser 31). The worst behaved were placed in solitary cells constantly. Finally, being the most utilized across the states, the Auburn system creates the basis of most American prisons.

Question 3

Although the origins of a prison can be traced to the rise of states as social organizations, and different legal codes of the early civilizations, the Romans were the first to use jails for detention (Hanser 2). The existing structures such as quarries, public buildings’ basements and metal cages were used to house prisoners. The convicted offenders during the Roman time were treated as dead, whereby the government took their property, marriages declared void, lost their citizenship status, and would assume the legal status of slaves (Hanser 3). The use of such harsh punishments by the Romans spread across Europe, and was later embraced by England, which acts as the basis of the American legal system. However, the construction of the Bridewell corrections house in London which was influenced by utilitarianism, led to the establishment of the modern prisons where inmates were provided with jobs and taught to work for a living (Hanser 4).

Jails as Short and Long Term Institutions

Jails as short term institutions are used to house the arrested people as they await sentencing, trial or plea agreement (Hanser 114). Moreover, as short term institutions, the jails hold prisoners who have been sentenced but are awaiting transfer. On the other hand, the jails act as long term institutions when they house people convicted of misdemeanor offenses with a sentencing of less than one year. One of the major problems within jails in the country is overcrowding, which is caused by the high number of arrests, and leads to fights and sanitation problems (Hanser 116). Additionally, the number of mentally ill inmates is increasing at a shocking rate, and a lot of resources go towards their mental care.

Work Cited

Hanser, Robert D. Introduction to Corrections. SAGE, 2016.