History of Corrections in the United States

By murwaA
  • The first jail opens in Philadelphia

    The first jail opens in Philadelphia

    The first jail opened in Philadelphia. It was the Walnut Street Jail.

  • Walnut Street Jail becomes the Eastern State Penitentiary

  • First prison

    First prison

    The first modern prison, the Eastern State Penitentiary, opens in Philadelphia.
  • Solitary confinement

    Solitary confinement

    Solitary confinement was first experimented with in Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia.

  • Debtor's prisons are banned under Federal Law

  • First state abolishes the death penalty

    First state abolishes the death penalty

    Michigan abolished the death penalty for every crime besides treason.

  • Convict Leasing started

    This is when incarcerated people were being leased out to work for private individuals. They were usually black men.

  • Men and women are planned to be seperated for the first time

  • The first women's prison

    The first women's prison

    The first women's prison opened in Indiana.

  • The US prison system is established

  • Congress authorizes the construction of the Federal Prison System

    Congress authorizes the construction of the Federal Prison System

  • Congress authorizes a new federal penitentiary.

  • Longer Prison sentences are given

    Longer Prison sentences are given

    this still remains to present day.
  • First Federal Prison

    First Federal Prison

    The first federal prison was in Leavenworth in Kansas. This prison started housing prisoners in 1906.

  • Cyanide gas introduced as an execution method

  • The first federal women's prison opens

    This opened in Alderson, WV.
  • (BOP) Bureau of Prisons is established

    (BOP) Bureau of Prisons is established

    This was established within the Department of Justice, and they were given the responsibility of all the federal corrections and penal institutes.

  • Highest number of executions is reached

  • Deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill begins

    Mental Hospitals closed, state care decreased.
  • Period: to

    Increased incarceration for lower level felonies

  • New Mexico State Penitentiary Prison Riot

    New Mexico State Penitentiary Prison Riot

    This 2 day riot caused the death of 33 inmates and the injury of 200 inmates. Moreover, some officers were injured. This was the worst riot in the history of the United States corrections system.

  • Supreme Court affirms that people cannot be incarcerated for failing to pay debts.

  • Sentencing Reform Act prescribes mandatory minimums and eliminates judicial discretion.

    This was to increase consistency in the United States.

  • Settlement reached in Ashker vs. Governor of California

    This reduced the number of people in solitary confinement and how and for how long people could be held.