NCJ Number
205012
Journal
Punishment & Society Volume: 6 Issue: 2 Dated: April 2004 Pages: 195-220
Date Published
April 2004
Length
26 pages
Annotation
In tracing the emergence of the modern prison system in Denmark and internationally from the late decades of the 18th century to the mid-19th century, this article focuses on the interconnectedness of scientific and religious concepts that constituted an ideological base for modern prisons.
Abstract
The article places the origin of the rise of the modern prison in the values and work of the English philanthropist John Howard. From the 1770's onward, Howard was dedicated to a systematic reform of prisons and, later, hospitals. Howard was ascetic, religious, and rational in his efforts to channel destructive human emotions and drives in setting individuals on the path of righteousness as defined in the morality of religious tenets. In his scrutiny of prisons, Howard found that in Denmark and Sweden as in much of Europe, the prisons were unhealthy, undisciplined institutions in which the inmates lived under horrible conditions. His writings were based on extensive studies and a comprehensive collection of data on prison life. His emphasis was on better inmate hygiene and nutrition, stricter discipline, partial isolation, and hard labor for the purpose of not only deterring criminal behavior but also rehabilitating inmates. Jeremy Bentham, who influenced prison reform in the late 18th century, was a declared atheist and relied upon a rational analysis of the prison system. Eventually, the strictly rational approach to prison reform exemplified in Bentham gave way to a combination of religious and rational concepts more in the spirit of Howard. This combination was exemplified in the United States' pioneering efforts in prison reform in the 1820's and 1830's epitomized in the Philadelphia and Auburn prison models. Representatives from Denmark visited America to learn of the implementation of these prison models. The Pennsylvania model gradually achieved the greater popularity in Europe; whereas, the Auburn model won out in America. The liberal and modern-oriented bourgeois Danish reformers simultaneously embraced both the religious and rational implications for the modern prison project. The reform debates of this period disclose distinctively modern accounts of human nature and methods for reforming inmates. Although the penal legislation of the 18th century did not use religious terminology, religion continued to frame the values that determined how inmates were viewed and treated in efforts to both discipline and rehabilitate them. 8 notes and 76 references