Prison Histories, 1770s-1950s: Continuities and contradictions

Johnston, Helen

Abstract

The stated aims of imprisonment became markedly less ambitious when the confidence that characterized the 19th-century reform movement was displaced by a realization that places of confinement – no matter how well designed or humanely intentioned. In an attempt to find principled common ground upon which to advance the debate, a new formulation is offered in this chapter, namely: the aim of imprisonment is to reconstitute the prisoner's spatiotemporal world without causing avoidable collateral damage. The focus of the debate about the aims of imprisonment was sharpened by the stuttering emergence, across Europe and the USA, of a penal philosophy that stressed the importance of reflective solitude as an engine for reform. This coincided with, and was given impetus by, the discovery of architectural solutions to the problem of unauthorized prisoner communication which meant that prisons could be designed to enforce silent separation, something that had not previously been possible.

Citation

Johnston, H. (2016). Prison Histories, 1770s-1950s: Continuities and contradictions. In Y. Jewkes, B. Crewe, & J. Bennett (Eds.), Handbook on Prisons (24-38). (2nd ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315797779

• Online Publication Date: Feb 23, 2016
• Publication Date: Feb 17, 2016
• Deposit Date: Jun 8, 2022
• Publisher: Routledge
• Pages: 24-38
• Edition: 2nd ed.
• Book Title: Handbook on Prisons
• Chapter Number: 2
• ISBN: 9780415745666 ; 9780415745659
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315797779
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/504737
• Contract Date: Dec 1, 1900