Pennsylvania Correctional System vs. Auburn Correctional System

Corrections

Pennsylvania Correctional System VS Auburn Correctional System

Compare and contrast the Pennsylvania Correctional System and the Auburn Correctional System. What correctional system most closely explains our modern day prisons? Why?

The Pennsylvania Correctional System was one of the first correctional systems created in the new nation of America. It was instituted during the 18th century. At the time, it was felt that "the solution to the disorder and corruption in most prisons ...lay in complete separation of each inmate for his or her entire sentence, a system which had been tried occasionally in England but was always abandoned because of costs and inadequate prison structures" (Johnston 2012). The philosophy of the Pennsylvania System was heavily influenced by the Quakerism of the state, which stressed the need for penitential reflection as a way of repenting and establishing a closer relationship between the inmate and God. "The system of 24-hour separation of each prisoner coupled with in-cell feeding, work, and sometimes vocational instruction, came to be known as the Pennsylvania System or Separate System" and prisoners were often visited by morally uplifting persons designed to 'educate' them about the need to repent (Johnston 2012).

The Auburn Correctional System of New York State is also no longer in existence, but this 19th century prison provides a useful case study as to how the restriction of inmates within the correctional system is still administered today. "The Auburn System confined prisoners in individual cells at night, but required they work together during the day" (Both sides of the wall, 2012, Correction History: 3-4). This was considered a more humane way of imprisoning convicts that the previously-favored system of total solitary confinement. However, prisoners were still prevented from communicating with one another. It was feared that allowing prisoners to interact with other prisoners would simply lead to more crime. The prisoner's sense of self was to be broken down, as part of his rehabilitation, which included living in a barracks-like manner and being forced to march in lockstep. "Convicts were marched back and forth to the workshops in lockstep - each man's arms under those of the man in front of him, all looking to one side, marching in unison. Convicts were required to keep their eyes averted from each other and the keepers, wear humiliating striped uniforms, and engage in constant activity when outside their cells" (Both sides of the wall, 2012, Correction History: 3-4).

Corporal punishment was used to discipline prisoners in the Auburn System. At first, whipping was used, and when this was prohibited "the shower bath, a true torture device, came into general use at Auburn" in which icy water was poured on a prisoner's head and prisoners were forced to engage in manual labor without pay (Both sides of the wall, 2012, Correction History: 3-4). Work was seen as spiritually beneficial for the prisoners, and a way of inculcating them positive social values. Enforced labor was also used as a method to defray the costs of the prisoner's confinement, as it was believed to be unjust that society should have to pay for their restriction (Both sides of the wall, 2012, Correction History: 5-7). The emphasis was on repayment and punishment, monetarily and morally to society, rather than upon repentance as in the Pennsylvanian system.