By the late 19th Century, outrage over prison conditions led to the "reformatory" movement, which attempted to redefine prison's role as that of "reforming" inmates into model citizens, by providing education, work, and counseling. Innovative flexible-time sentences (e.g. "four to seven years") indicated that reform was a variable process, and could be completed sooner or later depending on the individual prisoner. Children were separated out from adult prisoners for the first time, although so little accountability was built into early juvenile-justice systems that conditions rapidly became far worse than those for adults. And again, despite the curricula and activities of the reformatory movement, prison conditions deteriorated to a struggle for control in inhumane and hostile conditions.
Source(s):
www.adpsr.org
Source(s):
www.adpsr.org