Evolution of punishments and corrections

Ottawa Jail Hostel (formerly old carleton county gaol (1862-1972))

• Designed by Henry Horsie 

• Held people accused of crimes, convicted and awaiting trial

• Held minor crimes and serious crimes 

• Held People who had debt 

• Held men, women, mentally ill and children, newly immigrants

• Thousands of diseases immigrants died because nobody cared for them due to fear of catching disease

• No heating, plumbing, ventilation 

• Inmates were provided with one meal a day

The hole

• Solitary confinement 

• Meant for people who defied the guards

• Stripped of their clothing and chained to the wall or floors and left in complete darkness, left there for hours, days or weeks

• Only let out for twice a day for 15 minutes to eat or go to the bathroom

Surveillance

-Identification holes in stairs allowed guards to see the shoes of who was walking up and down the stairs, they could identify if they were an inmate or another guard

• Ceilings were drum ceiling which allowed for guards to hear if the inmates were talking, used for surveillance 

• Suicide gates to prevent inmates from commiting suicides or pushing guards off the stairs

8th floor

• death row 

• Inmate that was next to be executed was placed 4 cells away from the gallows 

• This was because on the day of the individuals death, he would do the march of death and other inmates would see/hear this

What causes crime?

• Necessity 

• Financial stress

• Mental illness

• Peer pressure

• Addictions 

• Being forced to

How can we prevent crime?

programs for disadvantaged groups

-creating more jobs 

-building skills, resumes

-economic policies that reduced crime

How can we prevent crime?

• programs for disadvantaged groups

• creating more jobs 

• building skills, resumes

• economic policies that reduced crime

Precursors to prison

Dungeons

Clerical penance

Debtor’s prisons

Bridewells/workhouses

Asylums

Local gaols

Dungeons

Convict would go there to be tortured, awaiting trial/execution  or bodily punishment

Clerical penance

Not for everyone, only for clergy who have committed an offence and are sent to a monastery for reflection through prayer

Debtor’s prisons

For individuals that had debt (taxes, rent) if the individual had family the family would go too, once there they have to work off their debt through hard labour

Bridewells/workhouses

People who are unwilling to work/unemployed, poor people, they would be sent to learn how to be industrious, developed a work ethic

• Workers made income but made the conditions poor so people wouldn’t want to be there

• Deviants would be sent to the workhouses (prostitutes, insane people)

Asylums

Focused on mental ill people

Local gaols

• Not a form of punishment, people who were going were awaiting trial or punishment

• Panhandling

The origins/beginnings of Prisons

• A demand for an alternative to capital punishment, transportation and hulks 

• A demand for more humane and rational approaches to punishment 

• Ideas fo the enlightenment and the influence of classical criminologists

• The need for a punishment that treats offenders equally

• The deprivation of liberty and a shift in the focus of punishment from the body of the offender to their mind 

The penitentiary

-the criminal is a rational being who can be reformed 

Goal: to transform the criminal from a convict into an industrious (work ethic) and useful citizen 

How?

• Remove corrupting influences 

• Through penitence 

• Hard labour 

• Teaching discipline/enforcing routine 

• Punishment (making the prisoner uncomfortable, coarse diet, disciplinary sanctions)

The Pennsylvania Model

• Built in 1829

• Piece of machinery in cell because of the principle of isolation, the prisoner would not leave their cell

• Prisoners would not talk to other prisoners 

• This was meant to prevent corruption and meant for the prisoner to reflect on their ways

• High rates of insanity and suicide

• Loss of social skills

• Expensive 

The Auburn Model (mid 1800s)

established in Auburn New York

-smaller cells

-only in the cell at night to sleep

-in the day they eat with the other inmates and can work

-no communication allowed

-based on silent association 

-men who engaged in communication would get whipped but for women they would be put in solitary confinement 

-cost effective, more productivity 

-outside contractors would assign work to prisoners, they would pay a small fee for a big profit 

-engage in penitence

-originated the black and white striped prisoner outfit 

The lockstep shuffle

-inmates line up and would walk in unison

-legs were connected by chains 

-help to maintain control 

The panopticon

-created by Jeremy Benthem 

-a central tower where the guards can see into every cell but the prisoners cannot see into the central tower

-prisoners do not know if they’re being watched or not so they self-regulate 

Kingston Penitentiary

Opened June 1 1835

-Paul Bernado served there

Closed September 30 2013

-the building was old and too costly to fix it 

-based on the auburn system

-classification of offenders according to sex 

Extensive use of corporal punishment 

-differential response to males and females

-opposition from labour groups because inmates were learning trades and could do work for a smaller cost compared to trades people, prisoners be put to work

The Beginnings of Modern Reform

1930-1970

-changes to the strict rule of silence, inmates are allowed to have conversation before work, at lunch and after work until 7pm

-inmates got paid for their work 

-prisoners displaying good conduct were granted:

-lighting in their cells to read

-permission to write 1 letter every 3 months

-one 30 minute visit per month 

Post WWII corrections

Shift from deterrence to rehabilitation 

Known as the medical model of corrections

Offender is ill → physically, mentally and or socially chemical behaviour is symptomatic of underlying factors

-focus on diagnosis and treatment 

Increasing involvement of professionals 

Expansion of community centres for rehabilitation outside the prison