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CHAPTER 3
The History of Corrections in America
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading this chapter, students should be able to:
2. Compare the basic assumptions of the penitentiary systems of Pennsylvania and New
York.
4. Identify the reforms advocated by the Progressives.
6. Illustrate how the community model reflected the social and political values of the 1960s
and 1970s.
7. Describe the forces and events that led to the present crime control model.
LESSON PLAN
Correlated to PowerPoints
I. The Colonial Period
Learning Objective 1: Describe “The Great Law” of Pennsylvania and note its importance.
A. During the colonial period, most Americans lived under laws and practices that
had been transferred from England and adapted to local conditions; Puritans
rigorously punished violations of religious laws.
II. The Arrival of the Penitentiary
Learning Objective 2: Compare the basic assumptions of the penitentiary systems of
Pennsylvania and New York.
A. Until the 1800s, American society was relatively sparsely populated and
predominantly rural.
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© 2019 Cengage. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or
in part.
D. The penitentiary, as conceptualized by the English reformers and their
American Quaker allies, first appeared in 1790 when a portion of
Philadelphia’s Walnut Street Jail was converted to allow separate confinement
of incarcerated individuals.
E. The penitentiary was conceived of as a place where convicted individuals
could be isolated from the bad influences of society and from one another so
that, while engaged in productive labor, they could reflect on their past
misdeeds, repent, and be reformed.
A. The Pennsylvania System
1. Separate and silent.
2. As in England, Quakers set about to implement their humanistic and religious
ideas in the new nation; in Philadelphia, their efforts came to fruition. Dr.
4. The opening of Eastern State Penitentiary in 1829 marked the full development
of the penitentiary system based on separate confinement. Cell blocks extended
5. The Pennsylvania system was based on isolation, reflection upon prior
transgressions, and repentance. It adhered to the following principles:
a. Incarcerated individuals would not be treated vengefully but should be
convinced that through hard and selective forms of suffering, they could
change their lives.
b. Solitary confinement would prevent further corruption inside prison.
c. In isolation, incarcerated individuals would reflect on their transgressions
and repent.
Media Tool
Visit http://www.easternstate.org/
o Eastern State Penitentiary is today a national historical landmark where visitors are
welcome. Learn about current exhibits, events, and links
o Discuss as a class. What correlations can you see between ESP’s beginnings and its
function today?
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What If Scenario
What if our prisons continued to operate as the Pennsylvania system had in its day? How would
our society be in terms of criminality?
B. The New York (Auburn) System
1. Separate and congregate.
3. Influenced by the success of separate confinement, New York decided on an
4. In 1821 Elam Lynds, a warden at Auburn, worked out a new congregate
system of prison discipline where incarcerated individuals were isolated at
5. The New York system was more concerned with instilling good work habits
and preventing recidivism than with rehabilitation of incarcerated individual’s
character.
Media Tool
Visit http://www.correctionhistory.org/html/chronicl/state/html/nyprisons.html
o The Evolution of the New York Prison System
o Read about the origins of the Auburn system.
o Discuss as a class. Compare the Auburn and Pennsylvania systems.
C. Debating the Systems
1. Throughout this era, which system should be preferred was hotly debated.
3. Both systems agreed that the incarcerated person must be isolated from society
4. Pennsylvania was looked back to an earlier craft-oriented religious society;
New York looked forward to the emerging industrial age.
6. In the United States., the New York system was the overwhelming choice, with
Europe favoring the Pennsylvania system.
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Class Discussion/Activity
Discuss the concept of contract labor systems as they were used in the past inside penitentiaries.
Discuss if they are still in use today. What are the pros and cons to contract labor systems? Open
this up for a classroom discussion.
See Assignment 1
III. The Development of Prisons in the South and West
A. Southern Penology
1. After the Civil War, southern legislatures passed “black codes” designed to
control former slaves through the use of harsh punishments.
3. Because of the devastation of the war and depression in the agriculturally
4. Faced with those challenges, and coupled with a large African American
incarcerated labor force and the states’ need for revenue, the lease system and
penal farms were developed.
B. Western Penology
1. Settlement in the West was not extensive until the California Gold Rush of
2. With the exception of California, penology in the West was not greatly
influenced by the prison ideologies of the East.
3. Leasing programs were used extensively in California, Montana, Oregon, and
Wyoming; “following frontier traditions,” the care of convicts was placed in
hands of a lessee.
Class Discussion/Activity
Assign each student to compare and contrast the information contained on the web pages of two
different states. Make certain to pair states as one from the south and one from the west. How do
the systems compare in terms of stated philosophy? Are they similarly organized? Are there
programs in one state that do not appear in the other? What other differences can the students
discern?
IV. The Reformatory Movement
Learning Objective 3: Discuss the elements of the Cincinnati Declaration.
1. By the middle of the 1800s, reformers became disillusioned with the results of
2. In England, Alexander Maconochie urged the mark system of graduated terms
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© 2019 Cengage. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or
in part.
3. In 1854 in Ireland, Sir Walter Crofton adopted practices similar to the mark
system that came to be known as the Irish or intermediate system.
A. Cincinnati, 1870
1. By 1870 a new generation of American penal reformers had arisen. Like
2. The National Prison Association met in Cincinnati—it issued a Declaration
that advocated a new design for penology: a philosophy of incarcerated
B. Elmira Reformatory
1. 1876 at Elmira, New York; Zebulon Brockway appointed superintendent.
3. He questioned each new incarcerated individual to explore the social,
4. An individualized program of treatment, work and education, was then
prescribed.
C. Lasting Reforms
1. The ideals of Wines and Brockway made major contributions to American
2. In the mid-1800s, the United States was coming to grips with two forces: a
V. The Rise of the Progressives
Learning Objective 4: Identify the reforms advocated by the Progressives.
2. This period framed the dominant tone for American social thought and political
action until the 1960s.
4. The Progressives came from upper-status backgrounds, were optimistic about
the possibility of solving the problems of modern society, and pursued two
main strategies:
A. Individualized Treatment and the Positivist School
1. The Progressives were benevolent and philanthropic people who aimed to
understand and cure crime through a case-by-case approach and promoted
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© 2019 Cengage. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or
in part.
positivist reforms; progressive programs can be epitomized in two words:
conscience and convenience.
2. The Progressives looked to social, economic, biological, and psychological
rather than religious or moral explanations for causes of crime.
3. Three basic assumptions shared by most positivists:
a. Criminal behavior stems from factors over which the individual has no
control.
B. Progressive Reforms
1. Two main strategies:
2. Probation: Originated in the work of John Augustus in the Boston Police Court,
beginning in 1841.
3. Indeterminate Sentence and Parole: Although the idea of parole release was
developed in Ireland and Australia in the 1850s, and instituted at Elmira in
1876, it didn’t catch on in the United States until the mid-1920s.
VI. The Rise of the Medical Model
Learning Objective 5: Discuss the assumptions of the medical model regarding the nature of
criminal behavior and its correction.
A. Even before psychiatry began to influence American society, the idea that
convicted individuals are mentally ill was current in correctional circles.
2. Under the banner of the newly prestigious social and behavioral sciences, the
B. Howard Gill tried to create a “community” of incarcerated individuals within
secured walls. He helped design Norfolk in the style of a college campus, staffed
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with guards and educators, psychiatrists, and social workers providing treatment
programs.
C. Rehabilitation as the primary purpose of incarceration took on national legitimacy
in 1929 when the new Federal Bureau of Prisons was authorized by Congress to
develop institutions that would ensure the proper classification, care, and treatment
of accused individuals. Sanford Bates was a proponent of the new medical model.
D. 1950s came to be known as the Era of Treatment as states created programs to
reform incarcerated individuals. Departments of prisons became known as
departments of corrections.
E. Regardless of how many states incorporated these programs, only 5 percent of
state correctional budgets were allocated for rehabilitation.
Class Discussion/Activity
Show a video of Jeffrey Dahmer and have the class discuss how the medical model has/had the
ability to influence the actions of this criminal.
What If Scenario
What types of sentencing would you recommend to a person convicted of robbery? Now imagine
the primary purpose of corrections is rehabilitation. How does this affect your recommended
sentence in the previous question?
See Assignment 2
VII. From Medical Model to Community Model
Learning Objective 6: Illustrate how the community model reflected the social and political
values of the 1960s and 1970s.
A. Community corrections advocates felt that the goal of the criminal justice system
should be reintegration of convicted individuals into the community.
B. The move toward community corrections was aided by the incarcerated
individuals’ riot and hostage taking at New York State’s Attica Correctional
C. Community corrections called for a radical departure from the medical model’s
emphasis on treatment in prison. Instead, prisons were artificial institutions that
interfered with the convicted individual’s ability to develop a crime-free lifestyle.
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Media Tool
Visit http://www.thirteen.org/programs/american-experience/american-experience-attica-prison-
riot/
o Attica Prison Riot
o Learn more about the Attica riots.
o Discuss as a class. How could this have been contained or deterred?
See Assignment 3
VIII. The Crime Control Model: The Pendulum Swings Again
Learning Objective 7: Describe the forces and events that led to the present crime control
2. Critics attacked the indeterminate sentence and parole, urging that treatment be
available on a voluntary basis and not tied to release.
3. Proponents of increased crime control called for longer sentences, especially
for individuals who make a career of offending and individuals convicted of
violent offenses.
A. The Decline of Rehabilitation
1. Robert Martinson studied rehabilitation in corrections systems concluding that
3. Critics have also challenged as unwarranted the amount of discretion given to
correctional decision makers to tailor the criminal sanction to the needs of each
accused individual.
B. The Emergence of Crime Control
1. As the political climate changed in the 1970s and 1980s, with the crime rate at
2. Critique of the rehabilitative model led to changes in sentencing structures in
more than half of the states and the outright abolition of parole release in many.
3. New determinate sentencing laws incarcerated convicted individuals for longer
periods of time; the thrust was toward incarceration risk containment.
Class Discussion/Activity
Show a video of a local convicted individual or popular convicted individual whom your
students might be familiar with and have them discuss how the crime control model has/had the
ability to influence the actions of this criminal.
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What If Scenario
What if the focus of corrections were deterrence? What types of sentencing would you recommend to a
person convicted of robbery? Does your sentence differ based on whether you are considering general
deterrence or specific deterrence?
See Assignment 4
IX. Where Are We Today?
A. As the United States enters a new century, the time may be ripe for another look at
correctional policy.
B. The optimism that once suffused corrections has waned.
What If Scenario
What if the focus of corrections today were the same as it was under the Pennsylvania system? What
changes would we need to make to our facilities? Would it be feasible to still operate under this system?
See Assignment 5
LECTURE NOTES
This chapter maps out the history of corrections in the United States, beginning with an overview
of crime and punishment in the colonies. It emphasizes that laws and practices were transferred
from England though adapted to local conditions. They should be aware that colonial life was
oriented toward local community and incorporated informal social controls. It is important for
students to appreciate that jails were merely a place to hold people awaiting court action or those
unable to pay their debts.
Students may be unfamiliar with what life was like during the early days of the nation. Until the
early 1800s, America was sparsely populated and primarily rural. You can help them to picture
these times by bringing in images or providing firsthand accounts from other sources. It is vital
that students understand the relationship between Enlightenment ideology, the birth of a new
nation, and the rise of the penitentiary. Help them to make these connections. The chapter
It is important for students to recognize that penal history is regionally different. There is not one
linear history of corrections but rather a network of correctional developments located around the
nation and across time. There are trends and similarities as well as differences and peculiarities.
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Most accounts of American corrections focus on nineteenth-century northeast history, but it is
just as important for students to understand penal developments in the South and West. In
particular, regional differences highlight the role economic and social factors play in penal
development. For instance, show students how the penal farms that emerged in the South were
devastated by civil war, economic turmoil, and upended race relations.
An important section of this chapter is the discussion of the positivist school. Students must
understand that positivism was a dramatic shift in criminological thought. They should
understand that positivists look to external forces (biological, psychological, social, and
economic) to explain the causes of criminal behavior. Students should understand how this
KEY TERMS
Penitentiary
An institution intended to isolate incarcerated people from society and from one another so that
they could reflect on their past misdeeds, repent, and thus undergo reformation.
Separate confinement
A penitentiary system developed in Pennsylvania in which each convicted individual was held in
isolation from other people, with all activities, including craft work, carried on in the cells.
Congregate system
A penitentiary system developed in Auburn, New York, in which prison inhabitants were held in
isolation at night but worked with others during the day under a rule of silence.
Contract labor system
Lease system
A system under which people who were convicted of crimes were leased to contractors who
Chapter 3: The History of Corrections in America
provided these individuals with food and clothing in exchange for their labor. In southern states,
they worked in mines, lumber camps, and factories, and on farms as field laborers.
Mark system
Reformatory
An institution for young individuals convicted of crimes that emphasized training, a mark system
of classification, indeterminate sentences, and parole.
Positivist school
An approach to criminology and other social sciences based on the assumption that human
behavior is a product of biological, economic, psychological, and social factors and that the
scientific method can be applied to ascertain the causes of individual behavior.
Medical model
Community corrections
A model of corrections based on the assumption that reintegrating the convicted individual into
the community should be the goal of the criminal justice system.
Crime control model of corrections
A model of corrections based on the assumption that criminal behavior can be controlled by
more use of incarceration and other forms of strict supervision.
ASSIGNMENTS
1. Have students conduct research on the Pennsylvania system and Auburn system. Create
2. Ask students to discuss and debate the concepts of a person’s biological characteristics,
3. Place students in one of two groups—either the medical model or the crime control
model group. Ask students to discuss and debate which model is better for today’s
4. Assign each student to compare and contrast the information contained on the corrections
web pages of two different states. Pair states that are likely to be high in contrast to each
other (e.g., Vermont and Alabama). How do the systems compare in terms of stated
philosophy? Are they similarly organized? Are there programs in one state that do not
5. Ask students to identify their theory of crime. Ask them to explain how they arrived at
this theory. What type of punishment or correctional approach would correspond with
ANSWERS TO END-OF-CHAPTER DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Although the answers provided below will vary from student to student, the responses should
include at a minimum a discussion of the following key points.
1. Why do you think the penitentiary first caught on in Pennsylvania and New York? How
would you explain the increase in the number of penitentiaries throughout the United
States after Eastern State Penitentiary and Auburn Prison began operating?
2. When Americans think of punishment, they usually think first of prisons. What other
ways of punishing convicted persons might the general public find acceptable?
3. How do you think that people convicted of committing crime will be punished in the
United States in the future? What established punishments will still be around, and what
kinds of new sanctions might emerge?
4. What lessons can today’s corrections professionals learn from the historical punishment
practices covered in this chapter? Which practices should we not reinstate? Which
practices should we consider adopting?