Auburn Prison Model

Although the Auburn prison served as a model for nearly ten years, it eventually began to be a financial burden to the State due to the threat of convict labor with the free labor market. As a result, a new model emerged in the 1820s. The Eastern State Penitentiary was built in response to the miserable conditions of earlier facilities. This penitentiary was capable of housing more inmates for longer sentences. The facility valued cleanliness as well as structure and order (Tarter and Bell 2012:107). Prisoners were still expected to spend time alone in their cells but in this facility there was a stronger emphasis on religion. Upon their initial entry into the facility, the inmates were kept in sole isolation. No work, no interaction, nothing. …show more content…
Both the Auburn and Pennsylvania models suggest that crime was a result of the external environment, not the individuals themselves. The nineteenth century theorists and prison structures represent a stronger focus on the social environment and a shift away from immorality and sin. Instead of focusing primarily on religion and morals, science and social structure began to take over. In earlier centuries, criminals were viewed as individuals who had morally failed. As a result, the criminal was perceived as a disgrace to the community. Public shaming was a necessary ritual to reintegrate the fallen citizen back into the community and criminals were seen as a threat to social order. In the nineteenth century, prison reforms aimed to reform the criminals, in hopes that they would become more productive following their release back into society. As a result, strict routines were enforced and the inmates were able to gain practical work skills through …show more content…
Two reformers, Enoch Wines and Theodore Dwight, after inspecting numerous institutions, reached the agreement that there was not a single prison facility in the United States whose primary concern was the reformation of the offenders (Rafter and Stanley 1999:7). They argued that prison administrators were corrupt and that the offenders were poorly treated and solely used for the purpose of cheap labor to benefit the state. Dwight and Wines’ Report on the Prisons and Reformatories of the United States and Canada presentation in 1867 helped lay the foundation for a prison reform movement three years later. It was there, in Cincinnati, Ohio that the Declaration of Principles was approved, which provided guidelines for prison foundations. Prior to the Declaration, it can be argued that retribution was the purpose behind punishing offenders. The conference in Cincinnati highlighted the importance of rehabilitation for the first time. As the Auburn and Pennsylvania systems focused on fixed sentences for offenders, the importance of isolation, and extensive labor, these conditions were viewed as degrading and psychologically damaging to the offenders. The Declaration of Principles argued that the prison system should emphasize reformation and that the prisoners should be educated on how to be free citizens and how to adequately function in society. It was

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