The Development of Prisons Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Development of Prisons - Research Paper Example Jails & houses of rectifications were created in the American colonies soon after the revolution. The jail was designed originally for the detention of persons awaiting their trial. It soon came to be utilized as a venue for punishment after conviction. As in Great Britain, this alteration brought in increasing opposition to the use of corporal & capital punishments, & hence it was a modification of the existing system for implementing the corrective reaction to law breaking. Convicted drunkards & vagrants, particularly, were barred behind these institutions. The house of correction began as an institution for vagrants, but was not differentiable in its basic approach from the medieval jails & confinements. Oppression, vulgarity, & anarchy constituted the basic plenary of the European & American jail infrastructure. The amendment of the disciplinary reaction in the jails came at a very slow pace. As a first hand example, the number of persons confined in prisons or correctional homes after a conviction was relatively less throughout the domain of the 18th century, & in the city of New York it was not until 1788, that a wholesome law was ratified for the use of prisons & workhouses as venues of reprimand. Thus the situation & the discipline of prisons had originated from a pretty precarious position (Sutherland, Cressey, Duckenbill, 1992, p464). Over the centuries the law and standards have brought about several changes in the prisons, their structure and operations. Early dungeons By modern day standards & merits, the conditions & interiors of the jails in early days were absolutely horrific. There was lawlessness, indiscipline, & inhumane conditions both in & out of the cells. The prisoners spent their time in association, without any sort of labour, depending on charity for their entire existence. There was virtually no procedure or system to treat unwell prisoners & inmates. Religious services were also not provided for these socially prohibited trashes. Har mful alcohol, unhygienic atmosphere, & beastly conditions prevailed behind the walls of these forbidden kingdoms. The prisons in England were in a precarious position, yet there was not much ado about it. Humans living worse than animals were the general traits upon which the metaphor of the word ‘prison’ was based in the 19th century. The prisons & confinements in USA lingered in the same tottering position. The culmination of the American Revolution did not bring any sort of positive change amidst the jails & prisons. The Walnut street jail in Philadelphia was one of the most ill maintained jails of the time (Sutherland, Cressey & Luckenbill, 1992, p