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Evolving Function

Early Use of Imprisonment as Punishment

Arcadia University, Philadelphia

This article explores the usages of imprisonment, both de facto and de jure, from its earliest recorded use 3,000 years ago down to recent times. Early scattered use, unreflected in the statutes, was followed by houses of correction for minor offenders and later, displacing capital punishment, for major crimes. Serious reform in England and Pennsylvania and the subsequent battle between two systems developed in Pennsylvania and New York states and their ultimate demise are described. The origins of special prisons for women, youth, and other categories are traced, and early prison labor and schooling are described.

Key Words: transportation • houses of correction • John Howard • Pennsylvania system • Auburn system • youth prisons • women's prisons • prison labor • prison education • prison architecture • privatization

This version was published on March 1, 2009

The Prison Journal, Vol. 89, No. 1 Suppl, 10S-34S (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0032885508329761


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