History of Prisons

Incarceration on the Rise

THE HISTORY BEHIND IT ALL

Originally, confining a person within four walls wasn't necessarily a means of punishment; but rather a means of keeping the brains behind a crime detained until the actual punishment could be carried out. This was typically done by corporal punishment to cause the guilty person pain, such as being beaten with a whip, or even as severe as capital punishment. If you ever committed a crime this heinous to receive capital punishment, a variety of methods were used to execute the lives of condemned individuals.

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London is known as the birthplace of modern imprisonment. Philosopher Jeremy Bentham was against using capital punishment as a means to kill someone, and therefore created the concept for a prison that would be used to hold prisoners as a form of punishment. His idea was to detain individuals for an extended period of time and ensure that those who were locked up wouldn't know if they were being watched by guards or not. This was a very advanced and economical plan because he felt since the inmates couldn't be certain how many guards were present, the prison overall would save money. In the end, Bentham's idea of a prison was never built, but the concept of using prisons as a form of long term punishment did catch on.

By the time the 19th century came around, prisons were being built for the sole purpose of housing inmates. People who were found guilty of various crimes would be sent to these penitentiaries and stripped of their personal freedoms. Hard labor was forced upon many inmates while they were incarcerated. Additionally, poor living conditions added to this limit of freedom and before long, the rehabilitation of inmates became one of the main goals of a prison sentence. Many felt the fear of being locked up would be enough to stop an inmate from ever committing another crime, but others believed policies should be enacted to help reform prisoners before they are to be released. Policies that people want to be included are: mental examinations, educational programs and sometimes even far more drastic measures such as electroshock therapy. However, on the contrary, an opposing viewpoint to the rehabilitative effects of imprisonment claims that being incarcerated will actually cause people to become even more involved with a life of crime, because they become so enveloped in a criminal society while living with other inmates. Regardless of these differing opinions on rehabilitation of criminals, imprisonment remains one of the most common forms of punishment around the world.