Chapter 13: Origins and Organization of Jails and Prisons

The Virginia State Penitentiary was built in the shape of a horseshoe three stories high and housed men, women, and children. During the 1800's it was opened. The cells had no heat, no light, and no plumbing. Which was Solid oak doors made it possible to see what was going on inside the cells. Sewage runoff ended in a ditch next to the James River, where a fierce odor lingered except when rain gave temporary relief. That is what you call Prisons and Jails. Pennsylvania system is a philosophy of imprisonment that promoted repentance through solitary confinement and prevented offenders from being corrupted by mixing with other offenders. The Auburn System is a philosophy of imprisonment that emphasized labor and meditation. Offenders worked everyday, but they did so in complete silence. Reformatory movement was during the late nineteenth century trend to ward use of incarceration to reform through education. Levels of Custody contain Maximum Security which prisons that house dangerous felons and that usually have a wall surrounding the entire facility. Medium Security are prisons that have some facilities outside the main enclosure and are surrounded by two rows of chain link fence, topped with barbed wire. Penitentiaries is Maximum security federal correctional institutions. Finally is metropolitan correctional centers (detention centers) which Federal jail facilities for pretrial detention and for those serving short sentences. Jails are facilities that are operated by counties and municipalities to hold two main categories of inmates: those awaiting trial and those serving sentences of one year or less. Correctional Institutions Operate by Punishment, Custody and Deterrence, and Rehabilitation and Reform. Models of Prison Administration are control model which prison management approach characterized by strict enforcement of prison rules and few privileges for prisoners, Responsibility model is prison management approach that gives inmates more autonomy; staff guides prisoners' decision making rather than making all decisions for them, and Consensual model are prison management approach that maintains order by agreement between inmates and staff on the validity of rules.