3. the building of folsom and the reformatory movement

Major Events in California Prison
Management 1862-1870
• 1862 Mass Escape from San Quentin

• 1864 First Good Time Law

• 1865 Prison Stripes Introduced

• 1879 Convict Labor Law passes

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“Good Time Law”
• Good time laws are the first visible form of early release.
• Good time is the reduction of a sentence as a reward for
good behavior.
• New York was the first state to put this theory into action.
“Prison inspectors were given the power to release when
the inmate had served three-fourths of his sentence.”
This only applied to convicts who were sentenced to “not
less than five years.”
• In California the warden was permitted to give the
prisoner up to five days a month off his sentence for
good behavior.
• California warden rarely exercised the option.

The new penology and the
Reformatory Prison Movement

The search for a more humane and effective
penal system


REFORMATORY

AN INSTITUTION FOR YOUNG
OFFENDERS EMPHASIZING TRAINING,
CLASSIFICATION, INDETERMINATE
SENTENCES AND PAROLE


The evolution of the Reformatory
Movement: European antecedants

Alexandra Maconochie and the creation of the
mark system and the indeterminate sentence
Sir Walter Crofton and the ticket of leave


Mark System
• A system in which offenders are assessed a certain
number of points, based on the severity of their crime, at
the time of sentencing. Prisoners could reduce their
term and gain release by earning marks through labor,
good behavior, and educational achievement


Reformatory Movement Leaders in
America
Zebulon Brockway Enoch Cobb Wines
• Congregationalist
minister and president of
the New York Prison
Commission and the
National Prison
Association


National Congress on Penitentiary and Reformatory Discipline
and the United States Reformatory Movement (Cincinnati 1870)

• National Prison Association
• Declaration of Principles


NATIONAL CONGRESS ON PENITENTIARY AND REFORMATORY
DISCIPLINE - 1870
DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES

• REFORMATION, NOT VINDICTIVE SUFFERING, SHOULD BE THE
PURPOSE OF PENAL TREATMENT
• CLASSIFICATION SHOULD BE MADE ON THE BASIS OF A MARK
SYSTEM, PATTERNED AFTER THE IRISH SYSTEM
• REWARDS SHOULD BE PROVIDED FOR GOOD CONDUCT
• THE PRISONER SHOLD BE MADE TO REALIZE THAT HIS DESTINY IS
IN HIS HANDS
• THE CHIEF OBSTACLES TO PRISON REFORM ARE THE POLITICAL
APPOINTMENT OF PRISON OFFICIALS, AND THE INSTABILITY OF
MANAGEMENT
• PRISON OFFICIALS SHOULD BE TRAINED FOR THEIR JOBS
• INDETERMINATE SENTENCES SHOULD BE SUBSTITUTED FOR FIXED
SENTENCES AND GROSS DISPARITIES IN PRISON SENTENCES
SHOULD BE REMOVED


DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES cont.

• RELIGION AND EDUCATION WERE CITED AS THE MOST IMPORTANT
AGENCIES OF REFORMATION
• PRISON DISCIPLINE SHOULD BE SUCH AS TO GAIN THE WILL OF
THE PRISONER AND CONSERVE HIS SELF-RESPECT

• THE AIM OF THE PRISON SHOULD BE TO MAKE INDUSTRIOUS
FREEMEN RATHER THAN ORDERLY PRISONERS
• INDUSTRIAL TRAINING SHOULD BE PROVIDED
• SYSTEM OF CONTRACT LABOR SHOUL D BE ABOLISHED


DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES
cont.
• Prisons should be small and there should be different
types of offenders
• These should be revision of the laws in regards to
treatment of insane criminals
• Should be system for collection of penal statistics
• A more adequate architecture should be developed,
providing sufficiently for air and sunlight and for prison
hospitals and school rooms


The New Penology

Elmira Reformatory
circa (1900)


ELIMIRA THE FIRST REFORMATORY PRISON
ESTABLISHED 1877

• YOUTHFUL OFFENDERS
• GRADE SYSTEM
• EDUCATION

• INDUSTRIAL TRAINING
• RECREATION
• DISCIPLINE
• INDETERMINATE SENTENCING
• GRADE SYSTEM

• PAROLE


The Exercise Yard
Elmira Reformatory

The new Penology and the struggle
for reform in California


California Prison Commission
(Established 1865)
• Formed under the leadership on James Woodworth, a
Presbyterian minister
• Modeled on East Coast Prison Aide Society

• Based its approach to reforming California’s prison
system on the Declaration of Principles


The California Prison Commission pursued
its mission through:

• Policy Advocacy

• Prison Inspection

• Director prisoner relief


California Prison Commission proposes bill to create Elmira
style reformatory at San Quentin (1872)

• Included education requirement and increased
good time

• Support withdrawn when legislature proposed
Folsom site for new prison


James A. Johnson: San Quentin Warden and Lieutenant-
Governor

• Argued to create an Auburn style prison as the
fundamental goal in authorizing a new branch prison –
rather than a reformatory.
• Attempt to atone for the failure of San Quentin to adopt
the Auburn model
• Johnson advocated for single cell design to allow
inmates time to reflect because “every man has within
him a germ of goodness.”


The Building of Folsom
• Authorization Act passed in 1858
• Response to the overcrowding at San Quentin
• Designed based on the Auburn penitentiary system
• Desire to save money
• Rejected by California Prison Commission


The Folsom site
• Located along American River
• Large granite quarry nearby


Folsom Prison(opened 1880)

Massive granite cellhouse with
inside cell blocks

Thick perimeter wall surrounded by
guard tower


Folsom Prison Cell Block

Reflects the Auburn
inside cell block
design


The Folsom Prison Rock Quarry


Folsom rejected major elements of new
penology including
• Indeterminate sentence
• Grading and classification
• Productive prison labor


Punishment at Folsom
• Isolation in darkened cells
• Food deprivation
• Shackling
• Flogging
• “Tricing” and the “derrick”


Parole

The conditional release of an inmate from
prison under supervision after a portion of the
sentence has been served


California’s first parole law - 1893
• Board of Prison Directors
• Response to chronic overcrowding and
disproportionate sentences
• By 1906 only 233 inmates of the more than 720
eligible were paroled during the first years of its
existence.


Expansion of Parole

• Crowding at San Quentin and Folsom led to relaxing of
parole criteria. By 1914, there were approximately 600
felons on parole with only three parole agents.
• Parole initially was introduced in California and used for
over 10 years to relieve governors of part of the burden
of exercising clemency to reduce the sentences of
selected State prisoners.
• The emergence of a rehabilitative justification for parole
did not come until 1914, after the hiring of more parole
officers to assure public safety.

3. the building of folsom and the reformatory movement

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3. the building of folsom and the reformatory movement