In the today’s modern world, in which people understand the social norms and try to follow them, the meaning of the word ‘prison’ is commonly known. Nevertheless, only a few people know how the history of prisons began. In fact, until the 18th century, prisons were used to keep all the accused for the crimes other than religious ones (James). Such forms of punishment as whipping, mutilations, pillory, and some others used to be applied to those who did not obey the law. As a rule, people were imprisoned for a short period of time waiting for a verdict.
There is one strong argument for why people were not kept in prisons long. Due to the fact that the then American society was agrarian, holding people in prisons would negatively affect the productivity of the community. Yet, times change and so do people. In the late 1700s, society became more industrial than agrarian (James). James states that Benjamin Rush is a person who played an important role in the history of prisons. It is known that he was strongly opposed to capital punishment and supported the idea that it was better for the criminals to be imprisoned than to be punished either capitally or corporally.
During the Industrial Revolution and immediately after the emancipation of slaves, people felt an urgent need in the punishment role of prisons (James). There is no consensus as to the location of the first prison of carceral punishment. However, it is believed to be situated in Simsbury, state Connecticut (James). Later, the so-called rehabilitative era came. In this period, three stages of release were developed. They were solitary confinement, public works, and intermediate prison. Therefore, the history of prison in the USA began in the 18th century as a result of Industrial Revolution and the end of slavery.
Correctional services have undergone a substantial number of changes. These changes stem from political and economic factors leading to the today's prisons. In 1861, the states in the South of the United States began correctional services from a knack of cruelty meant to punish for corrections. In addition to the savagely violent treatment of the wrong doors, states also used penal labor to punish them (Adamson 556). The construction of the Yuma canal venture also utilized labor from prisoners.
The last decade saw a proliferation in the number of those in need of correctional services as the number of wrongdoers rose sharply. This numbers of criminals and convicts grew in the times succeeding 911. Many of those detained were immigrants from nations viewed as producing terrorists. These numbers overwhelmed the existing prisons, and for the first time, private prisons developed. The author of the book "American Gulag inside US Immigration Prisons" talks of a newer development in the prisons systems called Street Detention Centers and mentioned New York City, Varick Street detention center as an example (Dow 25).
References:
Adamson, Christopher R. "Punishment after slavery: Southern state penal systems, 1865-1890."
Dow, Mark. American Gulag: Inside US Immigration prisons.
James, Kirk A. "The History of Prisons in America ." Medium, 2014,