Prison Reform Research Paper

In the early 19th century, the population inside of the U.S. grew due to immigrants moving into the country. With this sudden population burst, violence and crime rates also surged. This created an immediate need for prisons and correctional institutions in the United States. With the establishment of such institutions and prisons, a heavy question was also established. If these prisons were for the greater good of society, or to control society. The 19th-century Prison Reform Movement was primarily motivated by humanitarian principles, as demonstrated by its efforts to enhance prison conditions, advocate for less severe forms of punishment, prioritize the welfare of prisoners, and to make sure they are rehabilitated once released from the …show more content…
They may argue that the increased immigrant population, and a growing lower class population was the cause for the establishment of the country's many prisons and penal institutions. In the early 19th century the immigrant population did grow rapidly, creating a larger lower class. However, this growing population wasn’t the reason why prisons and other institutions were being established around this time. The growing population led to growing crime rates, and the increased crime was the major problem that reformers had to face. “humanitarian reformers began to see crime as a social problem—a product of a faulty environment and flawed character—rather than as a product of human depravity. Instead of whipping criminals, locking them in stocks, or hanging them, reformers believed that the duty of a humane society was to remove the underlying causes of crime, sympathize and show patience toward criminals, and try to re- habilitate them. By the 1840s, a growing number of Americans believed that expanded education and improved correctional institutions offered the best solution to crime. ” This shows that crime was the main cause for establishing prisons and other correctional institutions, and that creating effective institutions was the best way to prevent crime during this time. If the 19th century prison reform movement was truly to control the lower classes of society, then punishments wouldn’t be improved to be effective for rehabilitation. Before the events of the reform movement punishments included public whippings, and even the death penalty, which are both not humane. “Prior to the American Revolution, Americans rarely locked criminals in jail for long periods of time.” Unlike today, prisoners of that time were rarely held in cells, which is the most common and effective form of punishment used today. “It was regarded by the convicts as

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