Term
Weebly. "Prison and Asylum Reform." Reform Movements. Weebly, n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2017.
|
|
Definition
| One day in 1841, a Boston woman named Dorothea Dix agreed to teach Sunday school at a jail. What she witnessed that day changed her life forever. She was horrified to see that many inmates were bound in chains and locked in cages. Children accused of minor thefts were jailed with adult criminals. She wanted to find out if the conditions were this bad everywhere else. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| What shocked Dorothea most of all was the way mentally ill people were treated. Most people who were judged "insane" were locked away in dirty, crowded prison cells. If they misbehaved, they were whipped. Dorothea and other reformers believed that the mentally ill needed treatment and care, not punishment. Massachusetts had one private asylum, or hospital for the mentally ill. But only the wealthy could afford to send a family member there. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| . She also visited debtors' prisons, or jails for people who owed money. Most of the thousands of Americans in debtors' prisons owed less than $20. While they were locked up, they could not earn money to repay their debts. As a result, they were imprisoned for years. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| "I come as the advocate of helpless, forgotten, insane and idiotic men and women," she said. "I proceed, gentlemen, briefly call to call your attention to the present state of insane persons, confined...in cages, closets, cellars, stalls and pens! Chained, naked, beaten with rods, and lashed into obedience!" Shocked by her report, lawmakers voted to create public asylums for the mentally ill. |
|
|
Term
"Prison and Asylum Reform." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association, n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2017. |
|
Definition
| Thus, her crusade for humane hospitals for the insane, which she began in 1841, was reaching a climax. After touring prisons, workhouses, almshouses, and private homes to gather evidence of appalling abuses, she made her case for state-supported care. Ultimately, she not only helped establish five hospitals in America, but also went to Europe where she successfully pleaded for human rights to Queen Victoria and the Pope. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Among his enlightened approaches were the use of drugs, the introduction of "TALK THERAPY" and advocating outplacement rather than lifelong stays. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| After the War of 1812, reformers from Boston and New York began a crusade to remove children from jails into JUVENILE DETENTION CENTERS. But the larger controversy continued over the purpose of prison — was it for punishment or penitence? In 1821, a disaster occurred in AUBURN PRISON that shocked even the governor into pardoning hardened criminals. After being locked down in solitary, many of the eighty men committed suicide or had mental breakdowns. Auburn reverted to a strict disciplinary approach. The champion of discipline and first national figure in PRISON REFORM was LOUIS DWIGHT. founder of the BOSTON PRISON DISCIPLINE SOCIETY, he spread the Auburn system throughout America's jails and added salvation and Sabbath School to further penitence. |
|
|
Term
McGuire, William, and Leslie Wheeler. "Dorothea Dix." American History, ABC-CLIO, 2017, americanhistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/246681. Accessed 18 Apr. 2017. |
|
Definition
| Upon her return to Boston in 1838, Dix was still weak from her illness, but gradually her health stabilized. In March 1841, she was asked to teach a Sunday school class for women in the East Cambridge jail. Many of the incarcerated women were insane, and Dix found them living in filthy, unheated cells. She appealed to the local court to install stoves in the women's cells and with the help of philanthropist Samuel Gridley Howe improved the women's conditions. |
|
|
