In colonial America, those convicted of crimes were often hanged for offenses like theft or witchcraft. Jails held murderers and debtors together in common rooms. Sentences were often open-ended, and could drag on indefinitely. And incarcerated work crews could be seen in public, under guard and wearing prison stripes, making the law-abiding public nervous. Something had to change.
One of our Founding Fathers, Benjamin Rush, worked on a system to reform and standardize America's prison system, applying his Quaker principles to punishment for criminals. He advocated for specific sentences to give convicts hope. His idea of confining convicts away from the prying eyes of the public was meant to lower their shame. His idea of solitary confinement was to give a prisoner a quiet, contemplative period to calm his soul and ponder his deeds.
Today, we know that solitary confinement can do horrible things to a person's psyche, and many consider it cruel and unusual punishment. Between the time that Rush proposed his ideas for effective rehabilitation for criminals and the opening of America's first penitentiary, Eastern State in Philadelphia, 50 years later, his ideals and the real world system diverged considerably. Read about Rush's original ideas for the justice system and incarceration in America at the Public Domain Review. -via Damn Interesting