An analysis of historic changes in corrections first requires an exploration of the rhetoric of reformers, because the rhetoric provides the strongest clues to the origins of the changes and the sources of their legitimation; e.g., Jacksonian prison reformers, viewing their society through 18th century notions of social order, were uncertain about whether a geographically mobile and open society (all that colonial communities were not) could perpetuate itself. This explains why prisons adopted their special architectural form and their internal routine, from the single cell and exercise yards of the Eastern State Penitentiary to the lock step at Sing-Sing. Next, the sources of the appeal of the reformers' rhetoric must be traced. This involves determining whose interests were met by the change; e.g., the Progressives' desire to enhance discretionary decisionmaking met the needs of criminal justice administrators, whose authority and control over their jurisdictions were thereby increased. By examining whose interests are met through a reform, the source of its corruption and its failure to reach its ideal can be found. Such an analysis permits the identification of the social control aspects of reform and can provide guidance that tempers the expectations for reform while constraining the corruption and abuses that inevitably accompany it. Eight references are provided.