What were the problems faced by the Eastern Pennsylvania Prison and separate system?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

According to Johnston (2010) the solution to the problem of criminal contamination for the reformers was to be a regimen of near-total isolation and absolute separation of prisoners from one another, the use of numbers rather than names, and a program of work, vocational training, and religious instruction, all taking place within the inmate’s individual cell (p. 13). The stated purpose of this solitary confinement was to achieve reform or rehabilitation. Quakers believed that God resides in everyone, and for a person to reach God, he or she must self-reflect. Silence is required for this self-reflection, the Quakers thought. The Quakers also believed that as God was in everyone, all were equal and were deserving of respect (Alosi, 2008). Solitary confinement as a practical matter remained in existence at the Eastern Penitentiary until after the Civil War, but was not formally ended until 1913 (Alosi, 2008). When it was rigorously applied, there are indications that it drove inmates insane. In fact, and tellingly, most of the European countries that copied the Eastern Pennsylvania model and its architecture did not isolate the inmates for this reason. Moreover, at a minimum, solitary confinement debilitated people by making them incapable of dealing with other people. For instance, the wardens’ journals for Eastern in the early years indicate that it was not uncommon for an inmate to be released and then to ask to be reinstated at Eastern because he or she did not know how to live freely. Some inmates, once released, would actually sit on the curb outside the prison, as they said they no longer understood the outside world or how to function in it (Alosi, 2008). Though the separation of inmates under the Pennsylvania system was to be complete, there are indications that it was not. In testimony before a special investigation by a joint committee of the houses of the Pennsylvania Legislature in 1834 (before the whole prison was even completed), it was noted that a number of male and female inmates (there were a small number of female inmates housed separately at Eastern) were used for maintenance cleaning and for cooking at the facility and roamed freely around it, speaking and interacting with each other and staff (Johnston, 2010). Moreover, there were indications from this testimony that inmates were tortured to maintain discipline: One had died of blood loss from the iron gag put in his mouth, and another went insane after buckets of cold water were poured on his head repeatedly. It was alleged that food and supplies meant for inmates were given to guards or community members by the prison cook (who was a wife of one of the guards). There were also indications of the use and abuse of alcohol by staff and inmates and of sexual improprieties involving the warden and his clerk, some male inmates, and the female cook. Although ultimately charges against the warden and his clerk related to these improprieties were dropped, the cook was blamed and the guards who testified about the scandal (the whistle- blowers) were fired. In addition to these problems of implementation at Eastern, a debate raged among prison experts regarding the value of separation. As a result of the experiment with the Western Pennsylvania Prison, the early use of the Eastern prison and the Auburn prison (which we will describe further on), the idea of “total separation” was under siege. As mentioned it was observed that for those truly subjected to it, solitary confinement and separation caused serious psychological problems for some inmates.