CA 1 Chapter 3: Development of Correctional Concepts and Standards

Development of Prison
Prisons grew as a substitute for transportation, exile, public degradation,
particularly corporal punishments, and the death penalty. In the United States where
prisons were first established, imprisonment was introduced as a substitute for corporal
punishment and death penalty when, by the provision of the Pennsylvania reform Law
of 1790, corporal punishment was abolished and the list of offenses punishable by
death was reduced to only one that of the first degree murder as the United States and
Europe curtailed the use of the Death Penalty, prisons and penitentiaries arose to take
care of the unexecuted and un-pardoned criminals long sentences required prisons and
penitentiaries, that were not places of detention for those awaiting trial or short
sentences but places for lengthy stay.
Penitentiary - referred to a place where crime and sin may be atoned for and penitence
produced.
Early Prisons
1. Mamertine Prison - An early place of confinement in Rome in 64 BC using
primitive dungeons built under the main sewer.
2. Sanctuary - Asylum that placed the wrongdoer in seclusion or arrest in cities
followed by Christian Church.
Since the time of Constantine, placing the wrongdoer in seclusion to create an
atmosphere conducive to penitence is common. This form of imprisonment was
modified into more formalized places of punishment within the walls of monasteries and
abbeys.
Early Workhouses
1. Bridewell - a workhouse created for the employment and housing of London's
"riffraff" in 1557 and was based on the work ethic that followed the breakup of
feudalism and increased immigration of rural populations to urban areas.

Workhouses was so successful that by 1576, Parliament required the construction of

a Bridewell in every country in England. The same unsettled social conditions prevailed
in Holland, and the Dutch began building workhouses in 1596 that were soon to be
copied all over the Europe.

3 Early Cellular Prison

1. Maison de Force - A Belgian workhouse for beggars and miscreants, designed
to make a profit by an enforced pattern of hard work with both discipline and
silence. An important rule: "If a man will not work, neither let him eat".
2. Hospice of San Michele - A correction facility designed for incorrigible boys and
youth, and included silence, large work areas, and separate sleeping cells. Both
expiation and reform were intended goals.
 3. Wallnut Street Jail - Originally constructed as detention jail in Philadelphia
created by the Quakers, it was converted into a state prison and became the first
American Penitentiary.

AUBURN AND PENNSYLVANIA PRISON SYSTEMS

Auburn Prison System - Established in 1819, and the main feature of this prison
system is the confinement of the prisoners in single cells at night and congregate work
in shops during the day.
A prison model consisting of small individual cells, large work area for group
labor, and enforce silence.

Pennsylvania Prison System - Established in 1829, and this prison system requires
solitary confinement of the prisoners in their own cells day and night, where they lived,
slept, received religious instructions and read the bible, and given a work.

An early prison system requiring inmate's silence, individual cells, and inmate
labor in those cells. Although this prison system aroused great international interest, it
was adopted by only two other states, the New Jersey and Rhode Island, but later on
abandoned the system. In contrast, many European countries wholeheartedly adopted
the Pennsylvania model."

William Penn - The founder of Pennsylvania and a system of justice that required
compensation of victims and repentance to restore the offender to God's grace. Penn is
also the leader of the Quakers who brought the concept of more humanitarian treatment
of offenders to America, but also in Italy and England through its influence on such
advocates as Beccaria and Howard.

Notes:
1. The Great Law - Body of laws of the Quakers that saw hard labor as a more
effective punishment than death penalty for crimes and one that demanded
compensation to victims. Compared with the other harsh colonial codes in force
at that time, the Great Laws of Quakers was quite humane. This body of laws
envisioned hard labor as a more effective punishment than death for serious
crimes, and capital punishment was eliminated from the original codes.

AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT AND REFORMS

A philosophic movement of the eighteenth century marked by rejections of
traditional, social, religious, and political ideas and an emphasis on rationalism.

The events in the eighteenth century where the most brilliant philosophers of our
history recognized humanity's essential dignity and imperfection. Such persons as
Charles Montesquieu, Voltaire, Cesare Beccaria, Jeremy Bentham, John Howard and
William Penn led the movement for reforms.
  Charles Montesquieu (1689-1755) - In his essay Persian Letters, Montesquieu
used his mighty pen to bring to public attention the abuses of criminal law.
 Voltaire (1694-1778) - Involved in a number of trials that challenge the old ideas
of legalized torture, criminal responsibility and justice.
 Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) - Argued that the crime rate would go down if the
 amount of punishment was carefully calibrated to deter potential offenders and
maximize pleasures.
 Hedonistic Calculus - Jeremy Benthams's argument that the main objective of an
intelligent person is to maximize pleasure while minimizing pain; it was believed
that the individual's behavior could be influence in a scientific manner.
 John Howard (1726-1790) - An English high sheriff who was so appalled by Ja
conditions that he undertook a crusade to improve places of detention. He
utilized his position to pressed for the legislation to alleviate some abuses and
improve sanitary conditions.

REFORMATORY MOVEMENT (1819-1870)

This consisted of the introduction of certain reforms in the correctional field by
certain persons, gradually changing the punitive philosophy of punishment to a more
humane treatment of prisoners with innovative institutional programs.

Important Persons of Reformatory Movement

 Manuel Montesinos - He was the Director of Prisons at Valencia, Spain in 1835,
who divided prisoners into companies and appointed prisoners as petty officers
in charge; allowed the reduction of inmates sentence by1/3 one-third for good
behavior; offered trade training to prepare the convicts for his return to society.
 Domets of France - Established an agricultural colony for delinquent boys in
1839, providing house fathers as in charge of these boys. He concentrated on re-
education upon their discharge, the boys were placed under the supervision of
patron.
 Alexander Macanochie - As superintendent of the Penal Colony at Norfolk
Island in Australia in 1840, he introduced a progressive humane system to
substitute for corporal punishment, known as the "Mark System" wherein a
prisoner was required to earned a number of marks based on proper department,
labor and study in order to entitled him to a Ticket of Leave of conditional release
which is similar to parole.
 Sir Walter Crofton - He was the Director of the Irish Prisons in 1854 who
introduced the Irish System which was later on called the Progressive Stage
System.
 Zebulon R. Brockway - He was the superintendent of the Elmira Reformatory in
New York in 1876 who introduced a new institutional program for boys, 16-30
years of age.
 Sir Evelyn Ruggles Brise - Was the Director of English Prisons who opened the
Borstal Institution after visiting Elmira Reformatory in 1897, such Borstal
Institutions are today considered as the best reform institutions for young
offenders. This system was based entirely on the individualized treatment.
GOLDEN AGE OF PENOLOGY (1870-1880)
Significant Events During the Golden Age
 1870 - The National Prison Association, now American Correctional Association,
was originated and its first annual Congress was held in Cincinati, Ohio. In this
congress the Association adopted a "Declaration of Principles," so modern and
comprehensive in scope that when it was revised in the prison Congress of 1933,
few amendments were made. Since its founding, the Association has held annual
congress of corrections and has taken active leadership in reform movements in
the field of crime prevention and treatment of offender.
 1872 - The first International Prison Congress was held in London. It was
attended by representatives of the governments of the United States and
European countries, as a result of this congress, the International Penal and
Penitentiary Commission, an inter-governmental organization, was established in
1875 with headquarters at the Hague. IPPC held international congresses every
five years. (In 1950, the IPPC was dissolved and its functions transferred to the
Social Defense Section of the United Nations.
 1876 - The Elmira Reformatory, which was considered as ted forerunner of the
modern penology, was opened in Elmira, New York in 1876, the features of
Elmira were a training school type of institutional program, social case work in
the institution, and extensive use of parole.

The first separate institutions for women were established in Indiana and
Massachusetts.
The reformatory system movement subdivided gradually following the opening of
Elmira because of the founder's lack of faith in the effectiveness of the program the
defect of the system was laid on the lack of attempt to study criminal behavior from
which to base treatment. By 1910, it was generally conceded that the reformatory
system in the United States was failure in practice. It was not until 1930 that the
reformatory idea was revived as the direct result of the revamp of the educational
program of the Elmira Reformatory.

INDUSTRIAL PRISON MOVEMENT

This consisted in the operation of industries inside penal institution in order to
support the maintenance of prisons, especially during the economic depression that hit
the United States wherein almost every prison was converted into factory of
manufacturing articles. Such prison-made articles were sold in open market for profit.

PERIOD OF TRANSITION (1935-1960)

1. Alcatraz - Also known as the "Rock", a super maximum security facility island
prison for inmates in San Francisco Bay Area and part of the U.S. Bureau of
Prisons until its closure.
When the "Rock" was built in 1934, it was seen as the answer to the
outrages of such desperate criminals as Al Capone, Robert Stroud ("Birdman of
Alcatraz"), and Bonie and Clyde. Eventually, the U.S. Bureau of Prison
abandoned this prison as too expensive to maintain.
 2. Lock Psychosis - Term denoting overconcentration of prison administrators with
security and community protection, to be accomplished through extensive use of
locks, head counts, and internal control of inmates.
3. Convict Bogey - Irrational fear of prison inmates who can only be managed
through headcounts, locking, and recounting.

CLASSIFICATION MOVEMENT
The movement for modern correctional reforms stated with the reorganization of
the Federal Prison System in 1930, placing the penal institutions of the United State
under the centralized jurisdiction of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, recruiting
professional trained and accentuating institutional rehabilitation programs.

After the Second World War, the US Southern states undertook progressive
penal reforms, in 1944, the California Prisons System was recognized which included
the establishment of the prison. Penal Institutions were classified according to program
specialization and degree of custody of inmates.

UNITED NATION STANDARD MINIMUM RULES FOR THE TREATMENT OF

PRISONERS
Adopted by the first U.N. Congress on the prevention of crime and the treatment
of offenders held at the Geneva in 1955, and approved by the Economic and Social
Council organ of the United Nations by its resolutions dated July 31, 1957 and May 13,
1977.