Purpose and History of Penitentiaries Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Purpose and History of Penitentiaries - Essay Example In tandem with this assertion, it is evident that a prison was rarely used as a type of punishment. The local prisons held men and women, boys and girls, murders and debtors collectively. During that time, prisons were also poorly maintained and were mostly controlled by inattentive prison warders. Most of those held in the prisons died of diseases such as gaol fever (Koritansky, 2011). The most relevant innovation during this time was that buildings of the prototype house of correction. Most of the individuals held in the cells were vagrants, petty offenders, and disorderly poor locals. Before the end of the seventeenth century, they were absorbed in the prison system, and it fell under the control of local justice of peace. The 18th century was characterized as the time of ‘Bloody Code’ and the death penalty faced immense opposition and jurors were declining to give judgments that could lead to the execution of offenders. By mid-18th century imprisonment and hard labor was one of the best types of punishment for petty offenders. Transportation was also used as an approach of disposing of convicted people. However, towards the end of the 18th-century transportation was curtailed, and other sanctions had to be found. Some of the most prominent alternatives were house of correction and hard labor. This led resulted in utilization of prison hulks between 1776 and 1857 (Roth, 2010). In 1777, John Howard harshly criticized the prison system since it was filthy, barbaric and disorganized. This prompted him to call for reforms that entailed installation of paid staff, proper diet, outside inspection among other needs for convicts. However, other penal reformers felt that prisoners need to suffer but it should not grave impacts on a convict’s health. The Penitentiary Act of 1799 elucidated that the gaols need to be constructed for one inmate per cell (Roth, 2010). During the first half of 19th century, there was a watershed in state