History of State and Federal Prisons

In the 16th and 17th century prisons were not as well maintained as in modern day times. There men, women, and children were held together, usually while awaiting trial or punishment for their crimes. It is believed that these were run by negligent prison wardens and were a huge cause of disease.

In the 18th century prisons were more housing areas for those that were made to do hard labor for their crimes. The death penalty was widely frowned upon by this time too. Some of the places where prisoners were held were prison hulks. The prisoners were allowed to do hard labor during the day and loaded in chains onto a boat at night. The conditions on these boats were horrible and were eventually stopped. The use of prison hulks did much to persuade public opinion that incarceration, with hard labour, was a viable penalty for crime.

The 19th century prisons brought the reform of the building of the prisons. Each inmate was given their own cell but were still allowed to associate with other inmates at certain times of the day. This also brought about the beginning of the state prisons. These were used a means to deter offending and reoffending but was a move away from the idea of reforming inmates.

The 20th century brought about the ideas that young inmates should be held seperately from their older counterparts. The very first actual prison was built during this time. It was during this time that some prisons were designed, financed, built and run by private companies.

There are still many things that need to be changed or improved upon in today’s prisons, both state and federal. It does not look as though the amount of crimes or the willingness to commit them is changing. More prisons need to be built and new forms of imprisonment may need to be found.