NCJ Number
74806
Journal
Crime and Social Justice Issue: 14 Dated: (1980) Pages: 37-43
Date Published
1980
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This article describing the development of Auburn Prison in New York, and suggests that the early American penitentiary was repressive and directly opposed to humanitarian reforms.
Abstract
In the years after the War of 1812, unemployment soared, and crime more than doubled. The criminals were mostly working class men with a disproportionately high percentage of free blacks and young men. The vast majority of crimes for which they were prosecuted, convicted, and imprisoned were for store-breaking, theft, and fraud. The prison at Auburn was built in 1816. Its original emphasis on workshops, where prisoners were contracted to local manufacturers, was replaced in 1819 by a panoptic militarism, with extreme discipline, uniforms, shaved heads, and overall suppression. These changes were approved by the public because of growing economic problems and public sentiment against competition from low-wage prison workshops. There is no evidence of efforts toward correction of the refractory prisoner except at the broadest level (breaking the spirit of prisoners through corporal punishment. One drawing is included. A list of 32 references, 6 documents, and 17 explanatory footnotes follow the text.