History Of State And Federal Prisons

Everything has a beginning and soon it progresses into something better. State and federal prisons is an example of what the United States has progress over centuries of hard work, dedication, and creativity.

The main principle that current state prisons have goes back to the nineteenth century and it’s ideas. Starting in the twentieth century, prisons were mainly prison industries where inmates would work and have a chance to reflect on their crimes. Prison industries became very popular by the Northern and Midwestern part of the United States, where in the south, prisoners worked mainly on plantations. In this time of century, all prisons were handled with maximum security.

By the 1930’s, state prisons had developed an over populated environment.  Federal prisons opened a whole new door to prisoners with new opportunities and workforce. Some of the federal prisons were involved in prison industries that served the military. Federal prisons worked to make larger prisons into smaller ones for security reason. The main goal that federal prisons had on inmates was to have them take literacy classes and have them reading at a high school level. Some of the other g\oals include deterrence, rehabilitation, and incapacitation.

Over the centuries, state and federal prisons has offered new opportunities to inmates so they can better themselves and it just keep on getting better.  Inmates are not only offered to have time to reflect on the crimes that they have done but also to learn something while serving their time and help others, like the military.

Reference:

Foster, B. (2006). Corrections: The fundamentals. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.