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Introduction
The rise of penitentiaries in the United States was intended to punish those who committed crimes. However, penitentiaries also ran as businesses, and owners used the inmates for free labor. The rise of asylums was first intended to help the mentally ill, but they soon became places known for their horrible conditions. I look at the popularity of these institutions during the 19th century. -
Friends Asylum
The first private mental hospital is opened in Philadelphia. Mental illness was treated with physical methods at the time which often led to the restraint or confinement of the patients. -
Dorothea Dix
Dorothea Dix was known for her strong advocacy of mental health. She submitted a "memorial" to the Massachusetts state legislature advocating for better treatment for the mentally ill as she is someone who had suffered from a mental illness in her past. Dorothea's hard work led to the restructuring of many hospitals. -
First Privatized Penitentiary
Louisiana became the first state to privatize their penitentiary. Their penitentiary operated as a clothing factory, and the inmates were the workers. Prison owners focused on how much profit was coming in. -
Passage of Black Codes
Black codes were first enacted in Mississippi and South Carolina shortly after slavery was abolished. These black codes made life for African Americans very hard, which led to a high percentage of Black folks being incarcerated. -
Abolition of Slavery
The end of slavery was a turning point in American history because it was the end of free slave labor. At least, that's what many of the slaves thought. Soon after slavery was abolished, the number of African Americans in penitentiaries began to skyrocket, and the prison system seemed to replace the old slavery system with a new one. -
Ruffin V. Commonwealth
A prisoner kills a guard that was watching him while he was working. He was charged with murder, but his lawyers argued that he deserved to be tried by a jury of his peers. This led to the questioning of a prisoner's rights. Supreme Court Justice J. Christian states, “as a consequence of his crime, not only forfeited his liberty, but all his personal rights ….He is for the time being the slave of the state." This reinforced the idea that the prison system was another form of slavery. -
Rise of Asylums
Asylums had become so popular over the last few decades that by 1880 there were 139 asylums built. -
Ten Days in a Mad-House
Nellie Bly was a journalist who went undercover to expose the dire conditions of asylums in the United States. Patients at these state asylums were severely mistreated. In her expose, Bly declared that people were improperly institutionalized, yet they were forced to remain as inmates. Conditions in asylums became comparable to those in prisons. -
Federal Prison System
Congress passed the "Three Prisons Act." This act authorized the first three federal penitentiaries: USP Leavenworth, USP Atlanta and USP McNeil Island. -
Conclusion
The rise of correctional institutions, particularly after the abolition of slavery, seems to have been calculated to compel unpaid labor from former enslaved people. By creating an unfair justice system, the United States placed a lot of African Americans into state penitentiaries and forced them to work for free. Asylums, while originally intended to humanize treatment of mental illnesses, increasingly came to resemble prisons in the late 19th century. -