NCJ Number
84019
Journal
Corrections Magazine Volume: 8 Issue: 4 Dated: (August 1982) Pages: 25-32
Date Published
1982
Length
8 pages
Annotation
The efficacy of reform strategies implemented in the 1930's in the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Norfolk are discussed, highlighting criticisms which appeared in a recent publication focusing on the development of American prisons.
Abstract
Today, the medium-security institution at Norfolk is overcrowded, understaffed, and lacking in appropriate training and academic programs for inmates. However, when the prison opened in 1931, it represented the best hopes of prison reformers, particularly those of its founder and first superintendent, Howard B. Gill. The book 'Conscience and Convenience,' by David Rothman, contends that the innovations attempted at Norfolk were failures. Thus, debate continues regarding treatment vs. punishment. In the beginning, Norfolk resembled a therapeutic community, primarily because of Gill's efforts. The facility was characterized by a superior medical division, a precise treatment and housing classification system, use of the casework approach, inmate councils, and the simulation of a normal society behind prison walls. These strategies were not implemented in other American prisons until the 1960's, and they remain major factors in discussions of the successes and failures of prisons today. Gill contends that continuous overcrowding of the facility made it impossible to give these strategies a fair test. Critics argue that no institution can provide both treatment and custody, regardless of administrators' efforts. Photographs are provided.