The History of Prison

In studying the advent of prison in America, one might be surprised to find that England established penal colonies in the British colonies here in America.  France established penal colonies in Louisiana.  These colonies were used as punishment for those convicted of crimes that were not subject to corporal punishment or hanging.  They sent prisoners to these colonies as indentured slaves and upon arrival, would be auctioned to landowners.  Others were put to work to help build and establish ship yards, buildings for government institutions and the like. 

When this mode of punishment was no longer available, the advent of punishment in the town square became common place.  Whether being held in stocks, or chains, being branded or having to wear an emblem that identified the transgressor. 

Later came the prison or penitentiary.  These buildings were used for the same purpose as penal colonies.  They were to separate the criminal from the rest of society and cause them to pay a penance for their crime.  Most early penitentiaries required that inmates housed there held jobs.  These jobs produced income both for the penitentiary and for the inmate himself.  The inmate was also secluded for time of reflection. 

In Colorado, the first penitentiary (Territorial) was established without cost to the state.  As a matter of fact it was determined that this facility was not to have any cost imposed on the state at all.  This facility had to establish revenue streams that would guarantee it’s ability to provide for inmates and still pay salaries.  Territorial had gardens, a farm, industry, laundry services, administrative services, banking services, culinary services and all manner of provision to care for inmates while they were housed.  The requirement was that the inmate had to pay a penance to the facility for his incarceration, take care of his needs and turn the remainder of his income over to his family.  When an inmate left the penitentiary, he would have a savings to begin his new life in the community, he would have job skills and he would have paid his debt to society.

We have removed our self from any form of rehabilitation or penance in our prison facilities.  Instead we have turned to brutality, abuse, destruction of the human spirit and the permanent label of criminal on all who have been sentenced to our prison system.  We do our best to break down social behavior and put every inmate on the defense of his survival inside a violent institution. 

We have the historical data and the numbers to prove that our current criminal justice practices do not work to build a stronger country.  We have seen the impact of the war on drugs and our tough on crime policies.  We, as Americans, fell for the rhetoric that our policy makers spouted, declaring that we would be a safer and stronger America.  We no longer believe you!

After 30 years of policies that benefited no one except those who are part of the prison machine, we need let our policy makers know that we do not support their failed rhetoric.  We have established systems that degraded citizens of this country, destroy families, burden communities and governments and leave us in a state of brokenness.

I don’t know about you but when I buy something from the store that does not work, I return it.  I refuse to pay for something that does not work.  I am saying that about our prison system now.  I refuse to pay for our prison system because it does not work.  It does not make our communities safer or stronger.  Instead, we have created a new sector in our society called “criminal”.  They are forever labeled and we have made it impossible for these people to ever succeed in our communities.

Our sentences are too long, we do not teach them about the impact their crimes had on their families or communities.  We do not help them reform their behavior, become educated, become skilled or give them a sense of responsibility for their own success.  Other countries do.  Other countries have seen the insanity of their policies and procedures and reformed their system.  It is insane you know, to continue doing the same thing and expecting a different result. 

We need to completely overhaul our system.  We need to treat them as people who are flawed and have caused harm.  We need to hold them accountable both on a personal level and on a material level.  We need to rerehabilitate or habilitate them.  We need to insure they have an education a skill and goals.  We need to do this so that they can be successful in the future and help us to build a strong nation.  If they are not successful then we will carry them for their life. 

It seems to me that the best thing we could do, and the strongest punishment we could impose on someone who has violated the law, is to require they get better and repay the community they wronged. 

This entry was posted on 9. February 2010 at 00:07 and is filed under Prison Reform Advocates, Juvenile Reform Advocates, Juvenile Offenders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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