Walnut Street Jail

The Walnut Street prison, which was the first prison, built in 1790 was a prototype for other prisons to be built over the next 30 years. By the year 1817 the prison began to deteriorate. Changes and overcrowding of prisoners in one room pushed Pennsylvania legislature to build more prisons. In 1817 two more prisons where built, one in eastern and one in western Pennsylvania. They built these prisons with separate cell areas, so each inmate could be kept alone, eliminating all the problems of congregate living. The idea of having separate cells did not originate in America. "Of course the notion of forcibly confining people is ancient and there is extensive evidence that the Romans had a well-developed system for imprisoning different types of offenders." (Meskelly).

Unlike jail or prisons, which create an expensive cycle of violence and crime, these alternatives actually prevent violence and strengthen communities. Community corrections programs provide

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 Prison and Probation Service has two main goals: To contribute to the reduction of criminality, and to work to increase safety in society. To achieve these goals we work with sentenced persons in order to improve their possibilities of living a life without committing new crimes.” (Linstrom and Leijonram)

There are other alternatives such as justice reinvestment, which refers to diverting the funding used to keep people in prison and supplying communities with high rates of offending and incarceration, giving those communities the ability to invest in programs and institution that address the underlying cause of crime, thereby reducing criminal behavior and

In the United States there is in extremely high rate of incarceration and mass imprisonment. Policies and ideas for change are being brought to the table on a daily basis. Is it worth it? Is the question that we always have to ask ourselves and will justice truly be served at the end of the day. Well throughout this course I have found that there is never a true solution to crime rates in general only ideas to decrease problems that have yet to stop rising. For example, the War on Drugs in the early 1980’s and the “broken window” policy in the mid 1970’s are both examples of putting water on the fire but never putting the fire completely out. These policy have

The United States have moved away from rehabilitating offenders. Incarcerating offenders without trying to rehabilitate them only increases the chances of them returning back to jail or prison. The correctional system should focus their attention on rehabilitating offenders and looking at alternatives to

Probation serves as the most frequently used sentence for those convicted. This is evident when you consider that the United States justice system oversees nearly 7 million people. Over half of those, a staggering 3.7 million people, are on probation with another 840,000 on parole (Rabuy, 2017). With those individuals representing the largest percentage of the American corrections system, it is important that we learn as much as possible about probation in order to improve the success of these programs. Probation involves a set of conditions that the probationer agrees to adhere to in exchange for remaining in the community. Typical conditions include a waiver of the offenders fourth amendment rights, maintaining employment or school

The Walnut Street Jail was first built as a city jail in 1773 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The jail was named after the streets it was located in which were sixth and Walnut streets. The Jail then expanded in 1790 in which a penitentiary-house was added. Walnut Street Jail is considered the United States first penitentiary house because no other jail was single-celled. During that time, jails that existed did not believe in the idea that inmate can change. The jail was built in Pennsylvania due to overcrowding in another jail called High Street Jail. Even though Walnut Street Jail opened as a local jail, they also had a plan for their inmates. This plan was to look at criminals positively and hope for them to change. Walnut

There have been theories made by people in government position on the crime epidemic and how to lower crime the crime rate. Many believe that the tougher the consequences, the better it would help people deter away from a life of crime. Unfortunately, this is not true for countries like the United States. We have very strict consequences for people that commit crime, yet we also have one of the

The concept of the prison has existed for more than two thousand years. It probably goes back as far in time as practice of cannibalism, where victims had to wait for their turn in contributing to the chief course in the menu of their captors. Examples of prisons can even be found in the Old Testament when Joseph was incarcerated in Egypt. It was not until the 19th century that a clear shift occurred from corporal punishment to imprisonment. As societies prospered and the industrial revolution began, the formal prison system, as we know it today, developed. Throughout most of the world, the correctional system is administered by the state, and it is considered a key function that the government must fulfill: protect its citizens by

Statistics have proven that incarceration alone is a monetary pitfall and does not deter the cluster of non-violent drug related crimes in this country. We need to create an alternative habilitation pattern for these offenders including an assessment of their mental health, specialized life skills training, and occupational employment assistance: in some cases, in lieu of incarceration and in others, in conjunction with incarceration. Ask yourself these questions: What affect would this type of intense program have on the recidivism rate? Would we be saving tax-payer dollars by producing graduates from drug rehabilitation programs instead of housing repeat criminals? To

First there should exist a non custodial alternative to pre-trial as to free up space in prison for people who are not yet convicted. This will free up valueble prison space as well as avoid mishaps to people awaiting trial. The existence of a pre-trial lock up policy means that many times trials will be delayed and takes away precious time and resource from both suspects and government (PenalReform). Second, some minor cases should be taken out of the criminal justice system altogether. This policy now exist in many countries, where the police not only arrest but try to help parties who are involved in the incident to come together to form a peaceful agreement so to avoid making arrest for minor issues. This is not only a compassionate way to address many problems, but help to build a society of trust and understanding, also helps to reform the image of law enforcement so that people do not view them with such hostility as most do now days. Lastly, began developing ways to prevent crimes instead of merely responding to crimes. Politicians needs to find ways to turn bad neighborhoods into good ones instead of just ignoring some streets. In order to truly deter crime and lower crime rates, the root of the problem must be found and solved. Crime rate will not truly drop until the source of the crime is gone. If people have access to good education, food, and opportunity,

Imprisonment wasn’t always commonly used, but rather Corporal punishment, forced labor and social rejection (ADPRS). Imprisonment started in Europe and used as a punishment by taking away one 's freedom and putting them in confinement (ADPRS). The prison system didn’t take place in America until the late 1700s to 1800s; at that time, people thought the crimes were beyond

Here in Hawaii a program called Hawaii’s Opportunity Probation with Enforcement (HOPE) was created by Judge Alm. The way it works is this, if an individual is in violation of their probation they will immediately be jailed for 3 no more than 4 days for their infraction. Judge Alm would liken this to parenting; when a child messes up you must deal with them immediately and consistently to produce a greater outcome.(www.slate.com) According to the article Probation that Works “Participants in HOPE were 55 percent less likely than members of a control group to be arrested for a new crime, 72 percent less likely to use drugs, and 53 percent less likely to have their probation revoked. As a result, they served 48 percent fewer days of incarceration.” This has proven to be a successful program for Hawaii while other state determine if they can replicate this