Prison+and+Mental+Illness+Reform

= Prison And Mental Illness Reform = = = = Summary = = Causes = = Goals = = Tactics = = Successes = = Failures = = Key Figures = = Key Events = = PrimarySources = = Bibliography =
 * Beginning in the early 1820s, a new phase of reform known as the Social Reform, moved rapidly throughout the country. This reform movement was aimed particularly at the conditions of prisons, punishment for crimes, treatment of the mentally ill and better institutions for them, and imprisonment for debt. Conditions of jails were extremely volatile because the cells were often very small with poorly equipped hygiene facilities, and large amounts of people were crammed into them. The end result was basically a filth hole ravaged with disease and overpowering stench. Punishment for crimes were often severe in which those who committed an offense often suffered immense torture or death. As for the mentally ill, they suffered the worst fates being that they were considered with characteristics of evil and therefore were whipped, branded, and chained in cells in institutions not at all equipped to handle them. Lastly, people who were unable to pay any debt accumulated were thrown into debtors' prisons where supplies were utterly atrocious. These actions called the attention of reformers to improve conditions in prisons and the treatment of the mentally unstable, lessen punishments for crimes, create better institutions, and abolish debtors' prisons.
 * 1) Dorothea Dix held a devotional hour for women in the East Cambridge jail and discovered that some inmates were chained in a dirty, cold cell simply because they were mentally ill.
 * 2) **Punishment for crimes was very severe-** i.e. death penalty for serious crimes to public whipping, confinement in stocks, and branding for lesser crimes.[[image:http://www.bangormaine.gov/images/Tramp_Chair.jpeg width="200" height="267" align="right" caption="A one person jail cell "Tramp chair" (early 1800s: was used in Bangor, Maine)" link="http://www.bangormaine.gov/cs_ps_policemuseum.php"]]
 * 3) **Condition of jails was abominable:** cells were so foul that visitors were driven away because of the stench.[[image:http://www.sjpr.org/Cases/Buildings/burlington%20prison/manaqin%202.jpg width="319" height="228" align="right" caption="Picture #1"]] "Picture #1"
 * 4) **Sufferers of insanity treated terribly:** people often thought that the mentally deranged were cursed with unclean spirits and therefore, were chained in jails or poor-houses with sane people.
 * 5) Imprisonment for debt was a big problem: many penniless people languished in filthy prisons for owing less than one dollar. Debtor's prison were very horrid being that they provided no food, furniture, or fuel for their inmates.
 * 1) To reform punishment for crimes, conditions of jails, treatment of the mentally ill and better institutions to help them, and imprisonment for debt.
 * 1) Dorothea Dix won support from famous educators, such as Horace Mann, and statesmen like Charles Sumner.
 * 2) Reformers began to view crime as a social problem believing it was the duty of a humane society to sympathize and show patience to criminals instead of torturing them.
 * 3) "Reformatories" and "Penitentiaries" established as places where crime could be quarantined and inmateds could be rehabilitated.
 * 4) These new prisons instituted hard physical labor and solitary confinement as a justified means of discipline.
 * 5) Legal principles dealing with the mentally ill were also reformed that a criminal act should be punished only if the offender knew right from wrong. (Ex: 1835- Richard Lawrence, believing that Jackson's attack on the Second Bank of the United States had prevented him from obtaining money that would have enabled him to claim the English throne, fired two pistols, that both misfire, at President Andrew Jackson. The court found Lawrence to be mentally unstable and confined him to an insane asylum for treatment instead of criminal prosecution.
 * 6) Another major effort was to outlaw capital punishment by reducing the number of crimes punishable by death and performing executions out of public view.
 * 7) Reformers regarded imprisonment for debt as irrational because debtors were unable to pay off debts behind bars. This led to the abolition of debtor prisons, and forbade the jailing of women and veterans.
 * 1) By 1880, Dix had a firm founding in 32 of 123 mental hospitals in America. This was a 110 increase since the year of 1843.
 * 2) In 1843, when Dix confronted the state legislatures about the condition of prisons, poorhouses, and mental institutions, with the help of several powerful men, the legislature was persuaded to fund the bill to expand the Worcester state hospital for the insane.
 * 3) As the leader of the American Peace Society, William Ladd advocated strongly in the internal organizations for collective security.
 * **Successes of the Social Reform movement involve the improvement of prison conditions, better facilities and institutions to handle certain offenders including the mentally ill, and the abolishment of debtors' prisons. Important figures within this movement include Dorothea Dix, whose detailed accounts of conditions in prisons and asylums resulted in improved conditions and the concept that the deranged were mentally ill; and William Ladd, whose leadership within the American Peace Society ultimately gave improvements in the internal organizations for collective security.**
 * 1) Dorothea Dix wanted federal land grants to build state mental hospitals, but this was actually a huge failure.
 * 2) After discovering the horrid conditions of mental facilities, Dorothea reported the situation to a local court. The court spurned her charges, but at any rate, she made the situation public and efforts started to improve conditions.
 * 1) =====**Dorothea Dix (Picture # 3)**- Dix discovered the maltreatment of the insane in 1841. Therefore in 1843 she presented to the state legislature the horrible conditions in which the insane were forced to be kept. Along side her, Horace Mann and Samuel G. Howe, led the movement for asylums and more human treatment of the mentally ill.[[image:http://www.pocanticohills.org/womenenc/dix.gif width="186" height="219" align="right" caption="Picture #3" link="http://www.pocanticohills.org/womenenc/dix.htm"]]=====
 * 2) **William Ladd(Picture #4)**- He led the American Peace Society (formed in 1828). His voice was heard declaring collective security which would be a success.
 * 1) **Pennsylvania's Eastern State Penitentiary (1829)-** A new "reformed" prison in which prisoners were physically isolated. Every prison cell had its own exercise yard, work area, and personal hygiene facilities.
 * 2) **(1847)-** Michigan became the first modern jurisdiction to outlaw the death penalty.
 * 3) **Dorothea Dix (1802-1887)-** New England teacher-author who possessed an infinite compassion and willpower for the treatment of insane people. She traveled great distances to gather reports on insanity and asylums describing cells so foul that visitors were drawn back from the awful odor. She later petitioned the Massachusetts legislature in which the result made improvements to the conditions of jails and the concept that the deranged were mentally ill.
 * 4) **William Ladd (1828)-** Leader of the American Peace Society who advocated in the internal organizations for collective security.[[image:http://www.swarthmore.edu/Library/peace/Exhibits/aps.and.trueblood/photos.aps/Ladd,%20William.jpg width="192" height="229" align="right" caption="Picture #4" link="http://www.swarthmore.edu/Library/peace/Exhibits/aps.and.trueblood/aps.leaders.html"]]
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 * 1) Kennedy, David M., et al. //The American Pageant A History of the American People//. Boston, Massachusetts: Wadsworth, 2010. Print
 * 2) Mintz, S. //Social Reform and the Problem of Crime in a Free Society//. //Digital History//. 2006. Web. 02 November 2010 []
 * 3) Woodman, Charles T. //Charles T. Woodman: A Prison Experience.// //Teachushistory//. Theodore Abbot: Boston. Web. 02 November 2010 []