Historical Timeline of Prisons and Changes in the Systems from 1700 to Present

Historical Development 1700-Present

Hospice of San Michele

1704

Built in Rome. Held youths and young men. Slept in separate cells. Inmates were whipped and had to adhere to the rule of silence. These prisons were considered to be ideal models of the prison institution at the time (" History And Development Of Corrections 1700-Present", 2013).

Maison de Force

1773

Held beggars and vagrants. Classified by gender and crime severity and slept in separate cells. Inmates were whipped and had to adhere to the rule of silence. These prisons were considered to be ideal models of the prison institution at the time (" History And Development Of Corrections 1700-Present", 2013).

Wymondham Gaol

1785 - 1790

opened in Norfolk, England and three story wing added

Pennsylvania Prison Society formed

1787

Lead by Dr. Benjamin Rush to improve Walnut Street Jail.

Parole

1800 - 2013

Parole began at the end of the 1800's. When it was instituted, many prisoners were already receiving clemency, pardons and early release for good behavior. Parole began with reformatories but spread to all prisons (" History And Development Of Corrections 1700-Present", 2013).

Association for the Improvement of the Female Prisoners in Newgate organized

1817

Elizabeth Fry, an English Quaker, argued for separate facilities for women.

Smaller prisons formed in New York

1817 - 1828

Replaced New York City's Newgate Prison. Auburn, west of the City, and Sing Sing, north of the city.

Houses of refuge

1820 - 1830

Juvenile shelter to keep them out of jail. This was a combination of shelters and detention centers.

Eastern State Penitentiary Built

1822 - 1836

Eastern State Penitentiary was built on the outskirts of Philadelphia. Prisoners were in solitary confinement. This model was referred as an isolate system. The solitary confinement and penance would lead to rehabilitation of prisoners. Prisoners were also given a work detail which consisted of handcrafts (" History And Development Of Corrections 1700-Present", 2013).

Training Schools

1850

Opened in Massachusetts for boys and girls.

Indiana State Reformatory

1873

First separate prison for women in America.

Reformatory

1876

Work with young men, ages eighteen to thirty, who were first offenders and "redeemable" (Foster, 2006).

First Juvenile Court opened

1899 - 1920

These assumed jurisdiction over its clientele based on age. These did not embrace all juvenile criminals until after World War II. Over the next twenty years other states incorporated juvenile courts.

Bedford Hills Reformatory for Women

1901

Opened in New York. Separate cottage rooms were built giving it a campus look for the women.

Federal Women's Reformatory

1927

Opened in West Virginia improving federal prison operations. Dr. Mary Belle Harris was the first warden of this prison.

Hawes-Cooper Act

1929

Mandated prison-made goods transported from one state to another be subject to the laws of the destination state. This Act went into affect in 1934.

Ashurst-Sumners Act

1935

Made shipping prisoner-made goods and strengthened Hawes-Cooper Act to a state where state law prohibited the receipt, possession, sale or use of such goods a federal offense (Foster, 2006).

Sumners-Ashurst Act

1940

Made a federal crime to knowingly transport convict-made goods in interstate commerce for private use, regardless of laws in the states (Foster, 2006).

Prison Industry Branch

1941 - 1945

Was established during World War II where it managed the industrial and agricultural output of state and federal prisons. These were modified through the years. By the end of the war, the prisoners industrial and agricultural output increased and the morale was higher.

War on Drugs

1960 - 2013

Consumption of illegal drugs began in the 1960's, leveled off in the 1970's and continues to a high level today.

Reintegration Era

1970

Stressed centrality of the community. This decade saw the expanded use of felony probation and the growth of halfway houses and pre-release centers.

The Warehousing Model

1980

After many studies showed that efforts to rehabilitate criminals were failing miserably, it was evident that a new approach should be used. This led to the “nothing works” doctrine. The new approach would be to simply put criminals away so they would no longer be a menace to society. This is when the term “warehousing” began to surface. Prisoners were put away for determined periods of time without the earlier frills of treatment and “coddling” (" History And Development Of Corrections 1700-Present", 2013).