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<a href=”https://www.criminaljusticedegreehub.com/modern-prisons-predecessors/”><img src=”https://www.criminaljusticedegreehub.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/History-of-Prisons.jpg” alt=”History of Prisons” width=”500″ border=”0″ /></a><br />Source: <a href=”https://www.criminaljusticedegreehub.com/”>CriminalJusticeDegreeHub.com</a>

Modern Prisons and Their Predecessors

Over 5.5 million prisoners populate the five largest prison population states.

[total prisoners by country][4]

United States: 2,228,424

China: 1,701,344

Russian Federation: 671,700

Brazil: 581,507

India: 411,992

Per 100,000 citizens

United States: 707

Russian Federation:470

Brazil: 274

China: 172

India: 30

$55 billion is spent by the US government on prisons every year

That’s $183 per man, woman, and child in the US.

Jails:

Run by local jurisdictions and house those awaiting trial or serving short sentences

Prisons:

Run by state or federal governments for convicts with longer sentences.

Also:

Juvenile-detention facilities

Military prisons

Immigration-detention centers

And civil-commitment centers

The US incarcerates more people than any other nation in history

3/100 Americans are part of the justice system.

Total 2,418,352

Federal and state prisons 1,518,559

Territorial prisons 13,576

Local jails 785,556

ICE facilities 9,957

Military facilities 1,651

Jails in tribal territories 2,135

Juvenile facilities (2007) 86,927

Plus

4.8 million adults on probation or parole

1/9 state government employees work in corrections.

With 4 prisons in America for every 1 in Russia (the second largest nation in terms of prisons).

But it wasn’t always that way

Prisoners by year:

1598780–2011

1612395

1613740

1610446

1598316

1570861

1527929

2135901

2081580

2033331

1961247

1381892

1366721

1222436 –1998

1176564

1127764

1078542

990147

909381

850566

792535

743382

683382

606810

562814

526436

487593

448264

423898 –1983

“It took more than a century to build California’s first nine prisons and less than a decade to double them” – Angela Y Davis

History of Prisons

The Ancient World

Retribution, fines, or banishment were the price for crimes in the ancient world.

The Iliad:

Why, any man will accept the bloodprice paid

for a brother murdered, a child done to death.

And the murderer lives in his own country —

the man has paid enough, and the injured kinsman

curbs his pride, his smoldering, vengeful spirit,

once he takes the price.

16th-17th century

Prisons held people awaiting trial:

Male, female, debtors, murderers.

Where they would be publicly shamed.

Promoting public deterrence, and “justice.”

By ducking stool

pillory

whipping

branding

and the stocks

The Bridewell House

Established in 1553 to:

Punish the disorderly poor

And house homeless children

With the goal of instilling habits of industry through prison labor.

Such as apprenticeships, and hard labor

18th century

Prisoners were shipped to penal colonies

Subjected to hard labor

Or kept in Prison Hulks (prison boats anchored in the Thames)

The Panopticon

Jeremy Bentham introduced the thought that prisons should reinforce in prisoners that they are always being watched.

A dark tower at the center can watch all the prisoners, but they don’t know when they’re being watched.

So they may be returned to society as paranoid citizens.

1799: the Penitentiary Act:

Cells should be built for one inmate per cell and operate on continuous labor systems.

Citations:

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