JSB173 Final: JSB173 Week 8 Exam Revision.docx
Document Summary
Historically the first prisons were not so much places of punishment as they were holding places for criminals until they paid their debts or were transferred to capitol punishment etc. They were rowdy and disorganised, with plenty of room for malevolence. Until two hundred years ago, the confinement itself was not actually a punishment. Two hundred years ago, the growing concern for the numbers of unemployed and religious beliefs merged to create the modern day prison, then called the penitentiary. It was a place for those whose souls needed saving and it was believed that in the dark and miserable confines of imprisonment, men could find god again and their souls could be salvaged. However it soon proved that the penitentiary was not successful, and in fact it did not help men become closer to god but rather quite literally sent them mad.