During the Progressive Era there were many social problems including treatment of the mentally ill and the condition of prisons. These became a growing problem in the 19th century and reformers like Dorothea Dix tried to settle the problem. Here is a brief description of the movement. 

Prison Reform 

Reformers during this era also launched campaigns against the prison system, where conditions were horrible. Debtors’ prisons were still common and housed the majority of American ―criminals‖—mostly the poor, who sometimes owed creditors only a few dollars. Over time, reformers were able to change the system. Debtors’ prisons gradually began to disappear, and activists succeeded in convincing many that the government should use prisons to help reform criminals, not just lock them away.

Reform for the Mentally Ill

Often working hand-in-hand with prison reform was the movement to help the mentally ill. The common belief during this era was that the mentally ill were willfully crazy or that they were no better than animals. As a result, thousands were treated as criminals and thrown into prisons. The leader of the reform cause was Dorothea Dix, who compiled a comprehensive report on the state of the mentally ill in Massachusetts. The report claimed that hundreds of insane women were chained like beasts in stalls and cages. Dix’s findings convinced state legislators to establish one of the first asylums devoted entirely to caring for the mentally ill. By the outbreak of the Civil War, nearly thirty states had built similar institutions.

Now read the Primary Source ―Dorothea Dix’s Report to the Massachusetts Legislature‖ and use these questions to guide your understanding of the prison & asylum reform movements.

1) According to Dix’s report, how were the mentally ill forced to live?

2) Why do you think Dix took her findings to the Massachusetts' legislature?

3) What possible solutions do you see to the problems Dix lists?

4) Why do you think there was such similarity between the prison reform movement and the movement to help improve conditions for the mentally ill?