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Louis Dwight

Louis Dwight was one of the first prison reformers of the 19th century. Dwight founded the Boston Discipline prison society. He focused mainly on the treatment of children, and added salvation and sabbath school to jails in America.

Zebulon Brockway

Zebulon Brockway is referred to the "father of prison reform. In 1861, Zebulon Brockway became the head of prison in Detroit, and introduced a new idea called the intermediate sentence. He implemented education and physical activity programs

How did this issue impact American society?

Lawmakers, shocked by Dorothea Dix's reports, voted to creat public mental asylums for the mentally ill instead of imprisoning them.

By 1887 state governments didn't put debtors in prison, public hanging was abolished as was flogging.

Some states now only allowed one to two prisoners to a cell.

What were the issues?

Contributions of reformers of this issue

Francis Lieber and Samuel Gridley Howe

  • Prisoners were bound in chains and locked in cages
  • When food supplies were low, prisoners went hungry
  • Children were jailed with adult crimes
  • Debtors were locked up with no way to pay their debts back, therefore they were locked up for years.
  • Many people were cramped in cold, damp rooms.

Dorothea Dix visited many jails and saw that many of the mentally ill were treated like prisoners. She also saw the horrible conditions that most prisoners were forced to live in. This motivated her to inspect, and write reports about the jails she visited. She later presented those reports to state legislature.

These reformers wanted basic literacy through prison libraries,better treatment and separation of women, children, and the sick. They also fought for reduction of basic punishment such as beatings and whippings.

19th Century Prison Reform

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