Summary: The Mass Prison Era

With recent talks on Capitol Hill of an upcoming criminal justice reform, it is not surprising to see topics on sentencing structure, police ethics and practices, and the future of the criminal justice system in the news headlines. One of the biggest topics is the overwhelming prison population in state and federal prisons. This has been a prominent topic for some time now. While some want to curtail the prison community others seem to think there is not a visible complication. Those who sense the prison population or the amount of people under supervision of the criminal justice system is of no concern, more than likely do not understand the impact the population has on criminal justice professionals or where the funding for these institutions …show more content…
The first known prison in the United States was Walnut Street Jail, a jail converted to a penitentiary by Quakers in Pennsylvania in 1790. The Quakers used a form of punishment that included inmates repenting for what they had done in solitary confinement. They had little contact with anyone. Shortly after, other prisons came about in Pennsylvania, leading to more prisons along the northern east coast of the United States. Between 1825 and 1876 was an era known as, The Mass Prison Era. The Mass Prison Era adopted a new system of punishment called, the Auburn system. According to Schmalleger, the Auburn system depended on whipping and hard labor to maintain the rule of silence (455). The prisoners did not receive solitary confinement unless they were being punished for an offense, unlike the Pennsylvania system where prisoners served sentences, isolated at almost all times. Many eras followed such as, the Reformatory Era (1876-1890), the Industrial Era (1890-1935), the Punitive Era (1935-1945), the Treatment Era (1945-1967), the Community-Based Era (1967-1980), the Warehousing Era (1980-1995), and the Just Deserts Era