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Journal Retrospective, 1845-1986: 200 Years of Prison Society History as Reflected in the Prison Journal

NCJ Number
107720
Journal
Prison Journal Volume: 67 Issue: 1 Dated: (Spring-Summer 1987) Pages: complete issue
Editor(s)
W G Babcock, J A Leban
Date Published
1987
Length
42 pages
Annotation
In the 200 years since its founding, the Pennsylvania Prison Society has worked for the improvement of prisons and the betterment of prisoners, via the dissemination of its journal, published from 1845 to the present.
Abstract
This retrospective of the journal provides an overview of major issues confronting the Society and the Pennsylvania correctional system over time. In the year of its founding, the Society set in motion the process that eventually led to the construction of country's first penitentiary and the development of what came to be known as the Pennsylvania system of prison discipline. Early concerns centered on building design, separate confinement of inmates, staffing, and prison conditions conducive to both punishment and rehabilitation. For much of the 19th century, the Society concentrated its energies on promoting this new system. During the early part of the 20th century, the Society concerned itself with a variety of other issues, including treatment of the insane, women, and juveniles; prison food; discipline; county jail conditions; classification; sentencing; corporal punishment; and aftercare, probation, and parole programs. Efforts at correctional reform continue into the present. List of journal issues and 2 references.