Purpose and History Essay

If they asked most people who committed the first crime they probably would say Eve giving the apple to Adam was the first crime. When you think about it though, the only crime she did was disobeying God. The first crime that was committed was by her son Kane when he killed Abel. This is why people commit crimes today. Since then developers have come up with a couple of different models for prison development. The first model is the Auburn system with the Pennsylvania model later following. With the rise of both models, the developers came up with prison labor that has been implemented in all of prisons today. When prisons first started, it was not intended for inmates. Prisons were designed for people who could not meet their financial obligation. It was also a place where they could hold people waiting to be tried in court as well as convicts waiting to be sentenced. Later prison became a place where they could hold convicted criminals as they tried to reform them back into society. According to â€Å"History and Development of Prisons† (2012), the main emphasis of prison was strict discipline and hard labor. The â€Å"History and Development of Prisons† (2012) also believed that the unsanitary conditions and lack of welfare for inmates spread throughout the nation as they came up with some different models for prisons. The earliest model that was put into place for a prison was the Auburn model. The Auburn model was developed in 1816. This model was designed so that inmates could live and eat with each other. The drawback to this model was that an inmate would get in major trouble if they were caught interacting. This model became the model prison for multiple state prisons around the US. Sing Sing is one of the famous prisons known for using this model. Over 10 years later they built a prison in Pennsylvania, and they used a solitary model for this design. The solitary model was designed so an inmate could stay in their cell and not even see other inmates. In 1829 the developers came up with another model for prisons. This model was the Pennsylvania model. This model was a little similar to later Auburn model to fact that they used to solitary model design. In this model inmates were not allowed to see face to face. With the Pennsylvania model came with what is the Victorian era. In the Victorian era the main emphasis for this was hard labor. Not labor as far as working in the fields, but physical training. This era actually believed in making there inmates suffer physically. In this era they wanted to make prison as hard as it possibly could. The cells in this era were designed so inmates could get to and from work without even seeing fellow inmates. This era was also notorious for bringing in scientist to determine the smallest amount of food that an inmate possibly could eat and still survive. Then they had other scientist who would take this food and develop ways to make this food feel, smell, and taste foul. Some inmates would die from malnutrition because they just could not take it. Labor in prisons is really starting to rise. Corporations are saving millions of dollars in money where they usually would have to hire workers to do, is being done by inmates. There is an organization in Florida called PRIDE (Prison Rehabilitative Industries and Diversified Enterprises) where inmates are processing different meats like pork, chicken, and beef. The meats that they are being process are served in the local schools in that area. Down in West Texas they have what is known as a mattress factory where inmates are assembling mattresses to be disbursed throughout all the Texas prisons. Prison systems are finding ways to get cheap labor out of inmates while they are inside the system. On the other hand some of the labor done in prisons is just pointless. In Louisiana they have â€Å"chain gangs† and in Texas they have the â€Å"ho squad.† Both these crews will go out to an unknown location and just do pointless labor. In conclusion it is no secret who committed the first crime. With this crime being committed, it made developers want to come up with a few ways to mold different styles of prisons. Each model was designed so that an inmate would never want to go there again. Each model developed came with a job that had to be done as well. Reference Page Elk, M. (2011). The Hidden History of ALEC and Prison Labor. Retrieved from http://www.thenation.com University Of Phoenix. (2007). THE FIRST PENITENTIARIES: ENGLAND AND NORTH AMERICA . Retrieved from University Of Phoenix, CJA/234 website.