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The Inside

prison reform

In our research of jail and prison history it was pretty difficult to pen-point the actual first prison in the world. However, captivity has historically been used as a tactic of war. This holds true as far back as the Babylonian Empire. During a conquest of a nation or tribe prisoners are taken either as captives for leverage to reach a common agreement or held as labor force indefinitely for the conquerer. 

In ancient times if civil crimes were committed; the accused  would be required to repay the accuser up to 7 times the value of the error in question.  If the accused could not pay in money or possessions the accused would be required to serve the accuser in time and labor.  Prior to America’s Independence, serious crimes like rape, murder and cases of theft were actually punishable by death prior to the advent of the prision system.   

By the early 20th Century, the  indeterminate sentencing regime began to take hold. This meant that from here on crime is viewed as a “moral disease “ to be treated by professionals with criminal justice experience (i.e a judge).   Indeterminate sentencing gave judges and juries more time to look at charges brought by prosecution to determine creative alternate courses of rehabilitation through punishment verses the swift capital punishment of the Victorian era.  These ideals set the stage in court for  constitutional rights,  formal evidentiary rules, and proof beyond reasonable doubt. 

In its evolution, calls for reform in indeterminate sentencing came about. Groups felt that many cases could be ruled unfairly in light of the lack of training in sentencing available in lawschool.  During this time, Supreme Cout Judge Marvin Frankel described it as the “unruliness, the absence of rational ordering,  the unbridled power of sentencers to be arbitrary and discriminatory. ”  Even with the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution in place, due process was rare invoked and was rarely successful. 

Prison food is designed to breakdown
the mind of the incarcerated.

The abysmal quality of food in carceral settings is well-documented. High in sodium and sugar, the diet in our nation’s jails and prisons is severely lacking in healthy foods. More often than not, it’s carb-heavy and ultra-processed fare. It’s also frequently rotten, moldy, or vermin-infested. And there’s rarely enough of the food to appropriately nourish. As a result, ​“a positive relationship with food — an essential part of being human — is denied every day to incarcerated people

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