Auburn Penitentiary: Silent and Congregate Correctional Facility

Andersonville Prison epitomized the ultimate crime against humanity. The atrocities that transpired in this confederate prison sparked reaction and outrage at the conclusion of the Civil War.

It was the Auburn jail that added a new system to imprisonment. It was solitary confinement. At the time many criminals had mental breakdowns being locked up in one room by themselves for years. It was then that a thirty five year rivalry between Pennsylvania and New York

Inmates have been placed here for both short and long term sentences. Segregation has a significant impact on inmates with preexisting mental illnesses. According to Arrigo and Bullock?s (2008) research, ?the extreme isolation that was characteristics of the early prisons?ultimately resulted in serious physical and psychological consequences for convicts.? The SHU has become the way prisons control troublesome inmates. Solitary inmates are only out of their cells for weekly showers and recreation time, but they are still heavily restrained. These inmates have no contact with the general population including dining and religious gatherings. This method of isolation leaves no remove for communication with other

Throughout the years, the use of imprisonment has varied, along with its influences of society. It is thought that although prisons have been around since the thirteenth century, prisons as we know them now to be have only been around for the last three centuries. The first uses of prisons were not seen as a form of punishment instead they were used as a way of making people do something. People would be held in prison until they paid their debts, or awaiting trial and then leading up to their sentence. McGowen (1995) suggests that from the early 1700s ‘bridewells’ a house of correction have existed, however at that time being used merely for vagrants and drunks. At the end of the sixteenth century there was a shift in punishment to imprisonment, along with this came a new, more humane idea of reform. Criminals would spend their days of prison carrying out hard labour. However after the American Revolution, imprisonment took a step back and there was another change. There was mass overcrowding within the prison service and although the death penalty was still being used it was a symbol of the power of the state. Therefore, an everyday way of dealing with offenders would be transportation to the colonies, being either Australia or America.

The Eastern State Penitentiary and Auburn Prison were both designed to reform prisoners but in different ways. The Eastern State Penitentiary was known as a "separate system" in which they used solitary confinement a form of reformation. Auburn Prison was designed as a "congregate system" in which prisoners worked together and ate together but housed in solitary confinement.

The Penitentiary Era 1790 to 1825 mass prison building era housed many prisoners with the goals of rehabilitation; deterrence and allowing the inmates to work during the day and when they returned were put into solitary confinement (Ortmeier 2006, 391). This new era was too focused on making prisoners think about their crimes and learn skills in workshops and general labor to reenter society as a productive member. Capital and corporal punishment were looked down upon by many and they did not actually fix the problems of rising crime. Often time’s prisoners were held in a large jail cells, men and women alike that resulted in rape and fighting among each other. The strengths of this era looked to keep prisoners safe and at times lessen

Before the 1820s, most prisons resembled classrooms where inmates lived in large rooms together like a dormitory. The newer prisons of the era, like New York’s Auburn Prison, shepherded men into individual cells at night and silent labor during the day, a model that would prove enduring. Women at Auburn, however, lived in a small attic room above

One of the first prison systems was called the Pennsylvania System. The ideology of this system was used in the Eastern State Penitentiary in the early 1800s. This system had very definite ideas on how a prison should be organized and managed. The operation of this prison was based on the following 5 general principles (Clear, Cole, & Reisig, 2006):

The Arkansas prison system scandal changed Arkansas in many ways, even though the many efforts off cover ups through testimony’s the truth behind the scandal prevailed. In these five sources you learn that the reputation off Arkansas was much more important than the inmates who even as convicted felons where the victim in this scandal. There are many different opinions on why the Arkansas prison famers where in such poor condition but the evidence only proves one theory, that no one was to be trusted inside the facility from super attendant to warden to inmate’s no one was to be trusted. In such places were the inmates where giving power and the warden was bringing in contraband, and these are just a simple examples of just how unjust they

In 1790 The Walnut Street Jail became the first prison in the United States by converting a wing of the Walnut Street Jail for use in housing sentenced criminals for corporal punishment (Seiter, 2011). The philosophy or objective for the Walnut Street Jail was hard labor, strict discipline, solitary and silent confinement, and religious study, as a result prisoners were kept separate and silent. Prisoners were also masked as moved throughout the prison to avoid other prisoners identifying one another; they were given work, such as handicrafts during day and read the Bible and did penancing in the evenings (Seiter, 2011). When the state of Pennsylvania opened its’ first two prisons they adopted the Walnut Street Jail model of design and operations, which soon became known as the Pennsylvania system. As issues started resulting from the Pennsylvania system such as poor productivity of goods for resale; impossible to keep prisoners from seeing one another; too expensive to maintain as more staff were needed, and some prisoners becoming mentally ill; prison operators started searching for new ways to accommodate these issues. After acknowledging the doom of the Pennsylvania system, a new system that allowed prisoners to congregate during the day and remain separate and silent at other times known as the Auburn system.

“The stocks, pillory, whipping, branding and the ducking-stool were the normal methods used for imposing punishment.”( Barnes 39). Although some of this prison history was exposed Carl Panzram is one of the few first hand accounts that still exist to this day. These past issues were mostly reformed however are reappearing with little resistance from public due to social stigmas and lack of knowledge.

In this paper we will discuss some descriptions of jail’s place in corrections and its role throughout history on most of these offenses come with a sentence of a year or less and anyone with over a year sentence is usually sent to a prison facility (Seiter, 2011). On the other hand, prisons have an ample amount of time to work with, rehabilitate, and reform offenders. Prisons do this with the hope that offenders can eventually be placed back into society and limit their recidivism back to crime. “The first jails were created in England and they were called goal” (Seiter, 2011,

The state prisons today were founded on the basis of the 1700s to 1800’s during the Age of Enlightenment. The English correctional facility referred to as a “gaol,” commonly known as a jail. They housed men, women, children, the mentally ill along with the civil and criminals. The individuals suffered from idleness, diseases, despair and malnutrition. The gaols were maintained by local authorities, classification did not exist, and the purpose of gaol was to detain or hold people for court.

Specific techniques that were used to bring about the destruction of self-awareness among the prisoners included, physical privation, prolonged interrogation, total isolation from former relationships, detailed regimentation of all daily activities, humiliation, degradation and social alienation by “thought reform” group (s).

If people were not trusted they would be chained up with a heavy metal ball so it would be hard for them to run away. Another punishment is when you missed behaved you what solitary punishment. The reason why it's because you were to fight or say bad language. In source 12 it states “solitary confinement was the most common punishment and was used for everything from cooking.” That was the least hurtful punishment. The worst punishment was called the dark room. In source 12 “ The most notorious of these punishments was the dark cell.” The reason why they called it the dark cell was because it was dark. You’d be contained in an iron cage which they'd be locked in. The room was 15 by 15 very small they wouldn't get much room. The nickname for the dark cell was called “snake den.” The reason why is because it says “possibly because a prisoner got bitten by a snake his stay.” Other stories said that the guards would drop scorpions and snakes. But nowadays punishment isn't as harsh nowadays they are in solitary for 2 days for not bathing. Also, they would get in trouble for 3 days for littering the