CMRJ 100 RP
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American Military University *
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100
Subject
Law
Date
Jan 9, 2024
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docx
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5
Uploaded by BarristerEchidnaMaster996
11/30/2023
Desha Gregory
AMERICAN MILITARY UNIVERSITY INTRODUCTION TO LAW ENFORCEMENT
United States History of the DOC
Gregory 1
The beauty of our society is the fact that its composed of different parts. Each concept of society has individuals attached to these components which aid is shaping the interests of society
and building the social climate. The concept of humans in society can neither been deemed concretely good, making society environmentally sound to live in, nor horrendously bad, making
society unbalanced. It is in my honest opinion that both of those concepts will always be a vastly debatable topic that has no means to closure. What I plan to highlight in the coming words, is the
individuals that seek to make society unbalanced and that actions taken over the course of history
to self-correct. Unfortunately, there are individuals that have disoriented mindsets on world viewpoints and take courses of action that are so negative in nature, that these actions significantly hinder the fluidity of the social structure. While I will not be opening the debate to discuss the behavioral and environmental attributes as to why social imbalance occurs, I will say that these actions affect the lives of citizens daily. It is my wondrous belief that these actions should be not only punished, but also made public for the concept of criminal deterrence. We see this action of accountability forming centuries ago, with the establishment of the governing body and foundation of laws that these entities utilized to keep balance. There have been significant alarms
raised has to the humanity of the punishments that these individuals should receive. With those concerns in mind, we began to see the establishment of the concept of jailing offenders by the Ancient Greeks. It was Athens that formally introduced the world to the concept of imprisonment. They first called these imprisonment facilities demotion, meaning place of chains.
Various quarry structures and public buildings were used to house “inmates”. This establishment,
while flawed and faced with challenges, laid the blueprint for civilizations to follow centuries later. The remainder of this essay will aim to shed light on the history of the United States jailing
Gregory 2
system, how the system began, and the changes made over time to combat the societal changes for the purpose of jailing efficiency. Before the 16
th
century, individuals found to have broken the law were remanded to forced labor, fines, maiming, and a plethora of other punishments that seemed suitable for the times. It was determined that a more established system was necessary and thus begins the formal history of US jails. The court system of the United States is federalist, meaning that state governments and the federal government remain separate. Because of this factor, the court systems are also separate, which is why we have the dual court system. This began in the 1700s when we see the Thirteen Colonies establishing their own judicial practices and laws. This is a system in which the state courts maintain matters revolving around state law and the federal courts deal with matters pertaining to federal law (Longley, 2019).
By the mid-
18
th
century, these jails were vast enough in stature to hold the rapid bodies flowing through (Joni
et al., 2020). To combat this, we see the very first “formal” US jail opening in Philadelphia in 1790. This is the first instance that we see a sound sanitary system and the ability of isolation, which had not been available. In 1829, the first modern prison was developed in Philadelphia; this prison aimed to urge prisoners to reflect on their crimes by providing solitary confinement. We see our first “maximum-security” prison built by way of the Auburn Prison in 1819. In 1891, the first three federal prisons were opened by congress, which passed the “Three Prison Act,” and the national prison system was established, according to which federal prisoners were held in the state's prisons. In 1907, a parole program was developed by New York; this program included modern components of parole, which had introduced supervision after release from prison and indeterminate sentencing.
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After 39 years of the creation of prisons, the Federal Prison System was created in 1930, which was responsible for regulating and managing the federal institutions to ensure that prisoners would not be treated inhumanly. Just 4 years later in 1934, the government developed federal prison industries. This industry concept was a way to institute programs that aim to assist the inmate during their prison stint, as opposed to having them sit there unproductive and wasting time. The goal was to rehabilitate while teaching inmates a skill critical to survivability once released. The concept was that if the system taught them usable skills, they were be deterred from committing future crimes. Just 6 years later, we see a more solidified correctional institution model being developed in 1940; the model aimed to reduce prisoners’ psychological and physical pain and offer them recreation, vocational training, and therapeutic programming. In 1976, the US supreme court stated that the prisoners' medical needs should not be overlooked;
it further said that the prisoners have the right to sue after prison if their health care issues are not
adequately addressed (Freudenberg, 2002). The concept of prisons, at its core, was a matter of rehabilitation and deterrence from future crimes. The goal as always been to reveal the impacts of their actions and how these actions disrupt the societal balances. While this concept has faced significant challenges and legality issues, this process has a long standing history. While, we did not spend much time investing into the delicacies and nuances of the entire concept, this essay did lay the groundwork for door that lays the foundation.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Freudenberg, N. (2002). Adverse Effects of US Jail and Prison Policies on the Health and Well-
Being of Women of Color. American Journal of Public Health, 92(12), 1895– 1899. https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.92.12.1895
Longley, R. (2019, January 10). What Is a Dual Court System? Retrieved from
https://www.thoughtco.com/dual-court-system-definition-4114784
Joni Sweet, “History of the US prison system,” Stacker, 2020,