CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
The origin of prisons within the context of world history may be examined in three major phases namely the ancient times, the Middle Age and the Contemporary era. During the ancient times, the evolution of prisons can be traced back to the rise of state as a form of social organization. Corresponding with the advent of the state was the development of written language, which enabled the creation of formalized legal codes as official guidelines for the society. The most well known of these early legal codes is the Code of Hammurabi, written in Babylon around 1750 BC. The penalties for violations of the laws in Hammurabi’s Code were almost exclusively centered on the concept of “the law of retaliation” where people were punished as a form of vengeance, often by the victims themselves. This notion of punishment as vengeance or retaliation can also be found in many other legal codes from early civilizations, including the ancient Sumerian codes, the Indian Manama Dharma Astra and the Mosaic Code (Roth 2006).
Some Ancient Greek philosophers, such as Plato, began to develop ideas of using punishment to reform offenders instead of simply using it as retribution. Imprisonment as a penalty was used initially for those who could not afford to pay their fines. Eventually, since impoverished Athenians could not pay their fines, leading to indefinite periods of imprisonment, time limits were set instead. The prison in Ancient Athens was known as the desmoterion “place of chains”. The Romans were among the first to use prisons as a form of punishment, rather than simply for detention (McClennan, 2008). A variety of existing structures were used to house prisoners, such as metal cages, basements of public buildings, and quarries. One of the most notable Roman prisons was the Mamertime Prison, established around 640 B.C. by Ancus Marcius. The Mamertime Prison was located within a sewer system beneath ancient Rome, and contained a large network of dungeons where prisoners were held in squalid conditions, contaminated with human waste. Forced labor on public works projects was also a common form of punishment. In many cases, citizens were sentenced to slavery, often in “ergastula” (a primitive form of prison where unruly slaves were chained to workbenches and performed hard labour) (Roberts, 2004).
During the Middle Age in Europe, castles, fortresses, and the basements of public buildings were often used as makeshift prisons. The possession of the right and the capability to imprison citizens, however, granted an air of legitimacy to officials at all levels of government, from kings to regional courts to city councils; and the ability to have someone imprisoned or killed served as a signifier of who in society possessed power or authority over others.Another common punishment was sentencing people to galley slavery where they were chained together in the bottoms of ships and forced to row on naval or merchant vessels (McClennan, 2008).
Punishment was usually consisted of physical forms, including capital punishment, mutilation, and whipping, branding, and non-physical punishments, such as public shaming rituals like the stocks.From the Middle Ages up to the 16th and 17th centuries in Europe, imprisonment was rarely used as a punishment in its own right, and prisons were mainly to hold those awaiting trial and convicts awaiting punishment. However, an important innovation at the time was the Bridewell House of Corrections, located at Bridewell Palace in London, which resulted in the building of other houses of corrections. These houses held mostly petty offenders, vagrants, and the disorderly local poor. In these facilities, inmates were given jobs, and through prison labor they were taught how to work for a living. By the end of the 17th century, houses of correction were absorbed into local prison systems under the control of the local justice of the peace.
From about 18th century, popular resistance to public execution and torture became more pronounced both in Europe and in the United States. In particular, the death penalty for petty crimes such as theft was proving increasingly unpopular with the public, and many jurors were refusing to convict defendants of petty crimes when they knew they would be sentenced to death. Rulers began looking for means to punish and control their subjects in a way that did not cause people to associate them with the outlook of tyrannical and sadistic violence. (The Reformer, 2010). They developed systems of mass incarceration, often with hard labour, as a solution. The prison reform movement that arose at this time was heavily influenced by two somewhat contradictory philosophies. The first was based on Enlightenment ideas of utilitarianism and rationalism, and suggested that prisons should simply be used as a more effective substitute for public corporal punishments such as whipping, hanging and so on. This theory, often referred to as deterrence, claims that the primary purpose of prisons is to be so harsh and terrifying that they deter people from committing crime out of fear of going to prison. The second theory, which saw prisons as a form of rehabilitation or moral reform, was based on religious ideas that equated crime with sin, and saw prisons as a place to instruct prisoners in Christian morality, obedience and proper behaviour. These later reformers believed that prisons could be constructed as humane institutions of moral instruction, and that prisoners’ behaviour could be reformed after prison term (Rhodes, 2004).