What happened to this penal
practice? In general, it went the way of other lost
ideals from the Revolutionary period. It's not exactly
jaded to say that as the ink dried on the Declaration and Constitution
documents,
the vision of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness died
as slavery continued.
Immediately, the Constitution needed
to be amended.
It is important to remember that the Constitution is an amended document. Over the centuries, amendments were added—and
it is fair to anticipate that more are forthcoming.
What ended the "separate confinement with mild
punishments" system
is a cause that has plagued American society since colonial
days, namely, immigration—too
many people coming in non-stop from all over the world and
every culture! Ironically, this is also what makes America distinctive.
Separate...single cell...mild punishments...individual
attention...personal repentance...offender rehabilitation—are
all linked together as penal theory and practice.
Once inmates
were caged
together,
the theory of separate confinement with mild punishments lost its
practice. The Eastern
State Penitentiary opened in 1829 and its architecture reflected
the single-cell model of separate confinement. The sad
story of the
next several centuries of penal practice in America is that
the single-cell
architecture was retained although
there was no longer a rational prison
theory to justify the practice. In brief,
from 1830 onward, America's prison system and discipline
had no grounding in the theory
and values of democratic republicanism.
We Earthfolk hold that this remains true today—America's
prison system and discipline has no grounding
in the theory and values of democratic republicanism.
Continue—PPS
