The Prison Reform Movement

1. The Prison Reform Movement By Tyler, Brandon, Emily Z, Victoria, and Marc

2. About the Prison Reform Movement • Goal was to move the mentally ill to asylums, remove debtors prisons, separate men and women in prisons, and alleviate human suffering. • The most important leader was Dorothea Dix: • Toured U.S prisons • Paid special attention to conditions of mentally handicapped • A Massachusetts teacher who vouched for asylums in her state legislature • Ultimately the strongest force behind the Bill for the Benefit of the Indigent Insane • Another leader was Louis Dwight, the founder of the Boston Prison Discipline Society • The group was able to: • Persuade 9 southern states to set up public hospitals for the mentally ill • Put emphasis on rehabilitation, to restore a sick or imprisoned person to a useful position in society • Juvenile detention centers were created to remove children from jails with adults

3. Jacksonian Democracy’s Influence on the Prison Reform Movement • The principles of Jacksonian democracy emphasized the need to address the issues of the common man. • This movement helped improve prison conditions for the common man’s prison. • The mentally ill getting a right to treatment for their mental conditions while in prison represents equal rights for all in the United States under Jacksonian Democracy. • Prisoners should get the same constitutional rights as those not in prison. • The prison reform movement was inspired by the “common man,” or in this case, led by the “common woman” because Dorothea Dix was just an everyday schoolteacher who led the reform.