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NEWS BY THE NUMBERS: MARCH 23–29

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THIS WEEK'S NEWS BY THE NUMBERS: MAY 17, 2019

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HISTORY OF THE US PRISON SYSTEM

Written by:
Joni Sweet
November 5, 2020
Ian Waldie // Getty Images
Republish this story
HISTORY OF THE US PRISON SYSTEM

Statistics on the U.S. prison system paint a sobering picture of incarceration
and the country’s criminal justice system at large. As of 2020, nearly 2.3
million people across the country were behind bars, according to the Prison
Policy Initiative. More than half of those people who are locked up are held at
one of 1,833 state prisons. The rest can be found at one of 3,134 local jails,
110 federal prisons, 80 Indian Country jails, 218 immigration detention centers,
and other facilities.

The country’s staggering rate of incarceration—698 per 100,000 residents—is
higher than that of any other country, per the Prison Policy Initiative. How did
we get to this point?

To find out, Stacker took a look at the history of the U.S. prison system. We
scoured information from the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the U.S. Department of
Justice, state criminal justice research, archival journals, and criminal
justice reform advocacy groups to learn about the rise of the prison-industrial
complex and how the country came to lock up such a high percentage of its own
population.

The resulting timeline will take you through the openings of some of the most
notorious prisons across the country, like Alcatraz and Eastern State
Penitentiary. It also points out major legislation that increased the number of
people and average length of time behind bars and led to widespread disparities
among the incarceration of people of color for low-level, nonviolent drug
offenses. Finally, we point out important reform milestones, such as when the
U.S. had the lowest approval of the death penalty, the implementation of key
rehabilitation programs, and attention from the U.S. Justice Department on the
unconstitutionality of bail.

Curious about how the U.S. prison system developed since our country’s founding?
Click through to see 50 major moments from 1790 to 2020.

You may also like: Most and least popular senators in America

1 / 50
Encyclopaedia Britannica // Getty Images
1790: FIRST US PENITENTIARY OPENS IN PHILADELPHIA

When Walnut Street Jail in Philadelphia was expanded in 1790 as part of an
effort to relieve crowded conditions, it became the country’s first
penitentiary, according to the Law Library. It had an intentionally designed
environment that, while safer and more sanitary than other prisons, confined
inmates to their cells for their entire sentence with little human contact. The
goal was to give incarcerated people time to reflect on their behavior, sans
distractions.

2 / 50
Mike Graham from Portland, USA // Wikimedia Commons
1829: EASTERN STATE PENITENTIARY BECOMES FIRST “MODERN” PRISON

Philadelphia became home to the first “modern” prison in 1829, when Eastern
State Penitentiary opened. It touted the practice of solitary confinement as a
way to give inmates time to reflect on their crimes and eventually emerge
reformed. The penitentiary would later be famous as the place where Al Capone
was incarcerated.

3 / 50
Library of Congress
1833: US BANS DEBTORS’ PRISONS

The federal government abolished debtors’ prisons, where people had previously
been incarcerated for an inability to make good on their debts, in 1833. Over
the following decades, Congress would develop bankruptcy laws to help resolve
unpaid debts.

4 / 50
DE AGOSTINI PICTURE LIBRARY // Getty Images
1835: NATION’S FIRST WOMEN’S PRISON OPENS

The country got its first women’s prison when Mount Pleasant Female Prison
opened in New York in 1835. After receiving criticism for subjecting
incarcerated people to gagging, straitjackets, and other inhumane conditions,
the prison would be shut down 30 years later.

5 / 50
PhotoQuest // Getty Images
1866: CONVICT LEASING BECOMES WIDESPREAD

When the Civil War ended in 1865, convict leasing became widespread in Southern
states. This system allowed prisons to lease out incarcerated people, mostly
Black men, to private businesses for a fee. According to PBS, the system helped
enrich states and businesses while treating the convict laborers dismally.

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decade

6 / 50
MPI // Getty Images
1871: VIRGINIA COURT DEEMS PRISONERS “SLAVES OF THE STATE”

In the 1871 case Ruffin v. Commonwealth, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that
inmates were “slaves of the state” who had forfeited nearly all personal rights.
It allowed the criminal justice system to deny basic constitutional rights to
prisoners for nearly a century, according to Process.

7 / 50
Historical // Getty Images
1891: GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHES FEDERAL PRISON SYSTEM

In 1891, Congress passed the “Three Prisons Act,” which created the Federal
Prisons System. It allowed the first three federal prisons to open—USP
Leavenworth, USP McNeil Island, and USP Atlanta—under oversight from the
Department of Justice.

8 / 50
Universal History Archive // Getty Images
1907: NEW YORK ESTABLISHES FIRST PAROLE SYSTEM

In 1907, New York adopted a comprehensive parole program—the first state in the
country to do so, according to Dui Hua. The program included modern components
of parole, such as indeterminate sentencing, supervision after release from
prison, and definitive criteria for revoking parole.

9 / 50
Unknown // Wikimedia Commons
1928: LAST STATE OUTLAWS CONVICT LEASING

Alabama became the last state in the nation to outlaw the practice of convict
leasing in 1928. Chain gangs, or groups of incarcerated people who were chained
together to do hard labor for punishment, would soon emerge, according to the
Vera Institute of Justice.

10 / 50
AgnosticPreachersKid // Wikimedia Commons
1930: CONGRESS CREATES BUREAU OF PRISONS

While federal prisons had been around for more than three decades, the Federal
Bureau of Prisons wasn’t established until 1930. It would become responsible for
managing and regulating all federal correctional institutions to “provide more
progressive and humane care for federal inmates.” It was also responsible for
ensuring consistency and providing centralized administration for these
facilities.

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should know

11 / 50
Bettmann // Getty Images
1934: ALCATRAZ PRISON OPENS IN SAN FRANCISCO BAY

The Federal Bureau of Prisons opened a now-notorious high-security prison on
Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay in 1934. Designed to be “a prison
system’s prison,” Alcatraz was intended to hold inmates who were deemed to be
violent, dangerous, or escape risks.

12 / 50
Keystone-France // Getty Images
1934: CONGRESS ESTABLISHES PRISON WORK-SKILLS CORPORATION

On June 23, 1934, Congress established the Federal Prison Industries, a
government-owned corporation dedicated to helping inmates gain work skills. The
move was an effort to help people successfully transition from prison back into
society and avoid committing future crimes.

13 / 50
Universal History Archive // Getty Images
1940: BUREAU OF PRISONS MODERNIZES PRACTICES

Between its founding in 1930 and the subsequent decades, the Bureau of Prisons
nearly doubled the number of inmates and institutions under its purview. It then
worked to modernize its practices in 1940, establishing inmate classification
and security levels at different institutions. These concepts are still used by
the bureau today.

14 / 50
Keystone-France // Getty Images
1940: PRISONS IN THE NORTH ADOPT CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTE MODEL

A new type of prison reform came about in 1940, with northern states adopting
the “correctional institution model.” This type of incarceration aimed to reduce
the physical and psychological pain of prisons by offering vocational training,
recreation, visitation privileges, and therapeutic programming. However, these
programs were only provided to people considered capable of reform, which rarely
included people of color, per the Vera Institute of Justice.

15 / 50
Detroit Publishing Co. // Wikimedia Commons
1941: ATTORNEY GENERAL BANS CONVICT LEASING

Attorney General Francis Biddle issued Circular No. 3591 to all U.S. attorneys
in 1941. The circular formally abolished the practice of convict leasing, as it
was a form of involuntary servitude.

You may also like: How well do you remember 1969?

16 / 50
PhotoQuest // Getty Images
1942: ALL STATES IMPLEMENT PAROLE SYSTEMS

Every state in the country, as well as the federal government, adopted a parole
system by 1942. It would raise the number of prisoners released through parole,
hitting a high 35 years later, when nearly three quarters of inmates “were
released early on parole,” according to Dui Hua.

17 / 50
Bettmann // Getty Images
1946: BATTLE OF ALCATRAZ LEAVES FIVE PEOPLE DEAD

A handful of inmates at Alcatraz penitentiary staged a violent escape attempt in
May 1946. Now known as the “Battle of Alcatraz,” the unsuccessful escape ended
with the deaths of three inmates and two correctional officers. One other
prisoner and 14 guards suffered injuries, as well.

18 / 50
MediaNews Group/East Bay Times // Getty Images
1959: CORRECTIONS ADOPTS “MEDICAL MODEL”

The “Medical Model” of corrections gained traction in the late 1950s, according
to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. This theory stated that rehabilitative
programs could provide a cure to the “disease” of criminal behavior. The Bureau
of Prisons would go on to diagnose an incarcerated person through a
classification system and offer educational programs and counseling services as
treatment.

19 / 50
doomu // Shutterstock
1961: BUREAU OF PRISONS EXPERIMENTS WITH PRERELEASE CENTERS

As part of an effort to reduce recidivism, the Bureau of Prisons established
three “prerelease centers” for juvenile offenders in 1961. The experimental
halfway houses were intended to give participants the tools they need to avoid a
life of crime upon their release, such as a savings account, appropriate
clothing, and a steady job, according to a 1969 report in Criminal Justice
Monograph.

20 / 50
PhotoQuest // Getty Images
1964: PRESIDENT JOHNSON SIGNS THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT

President Lyndon Johnson signed the Criminal Justice Act into law on Aug. 20,
1964. It advanced the right to counsel in federal courts by providing hourly
wages and expenses to lawyers appointed by the court.

You may also like: Defining historical moments from the year you were born

21 / 50
Getty Images
1965: PRISONER REHABILITATION ACT BECOMES LAW

The passage of the Prisoner Rehabilitation Act of 1965 led to major changes in
federal correctional work. It offered furloughs, work-release programs, and
support from community residential treatment centers to people incarcerated in
federal prisons.

22 / 50
Denver Post // Getty Images
MID-1960S: SUPPORT FOR DEATH PENALTY DROPS TO RECORD LOW

American support for the death penalty dropped to record lows in the mid-1960s.
When asked by Gallup if they were in favor of capital punishment for a person
who’s been convicted of murder, just 47% of Americans said yes, while a record
high of 42% of Americans said they opposed.

23 / 50
Consolidated News Pictures // Getty Images
1971: PRESIDENT NIXON DECLARES WAR ON DRUGS

President Nixon paved the path for the zero-tolerance drug policies of the 1980s
when he announced a “war on drugs” in June 1971, per the Drug Policy Alliance.
Violations of drug laws would lead to the number of people incarcerated for
nonviolent drug law offenses to skyrocket to more than 400,000 from 1997 from
just 50,000 in 1980.

24 / 50
Santi Visalli Inc. // Getty Images
1971: ATTICA PRISON UPRISING DRAWS ATTENTION TO PRISONERS’ RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Around 1,200 incarcerated people mounted an uprising at Attica Correctional
Facility in New York and took 42 staff hostage in September 1971, demanding
political rights and improved conditions. After the inmates and corrections
commissioner failed to reach an agreement, Gov. Nelson Rockefeller ordered state
police to take control of the prison. Police fired nearly 2,000 rounds and
dropped tear gas by helicopter. Forty-three people died in total, four of whom
were killed by inmates. The incident was considered a defining moment in the
Prisoners’ Rights Movement.

25 / 50
Robert Abbott Sengstacke // Getty Images
1971: BUREAU OF PRISONS ADOPTS “BALANCED MODEL”

The “Medical Model” of corrections became viewed as ineffective in the early
1970s. The Federal Bureau of Prisons soon shifted to a “Balanced Model” of
incarceration, which determined that the goals of prison were “punishment,
deterrence, incapacitation, and rehabilitation.” The “Balanced Model” is still
the prevailing philosophy of the bureau today.

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26 / 50
Dave Buresh // Getty Images
1973: ERA OF MASS INCARCERATION BEGINS

The U.S. entered a sustained period of rising incarceration rates beginning in
1973. The rate of U.S. residents behind bars would quintuple from 161 out of
100,000 people in 1972 to 767 per 100,000 in 2007, according to “The Growth of
Incarceration in the United States.”

27 / 50
Three Lions // Getty Images
1974: US SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS SOME CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS FOR PRISONERS

In the 1974 case Wolff v. McDonnell, a class-action lawsuit launched by an
incarcerated person in Nebraska, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that inspection of
mail between attorneys and inmates violated a person’s right “of access to the
courts.” However, it ruled against the allegation that prison disciplinary
proceedings were a violation of the 14 Amendment’s Due Process Clause, according
to Oyez.

28 / 50
Denver Post // Getty Images
1976: SUPREME COURT RULES ON PRISONER’S HEALTH NEEDS

The U.S. Supreme Court decided in 1976 that ignoring the medical needs of an
inmate is “unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain”—a breach of the 8th
Amendment. The ruling allowed other inmates to sue after prisons failed to
address their medical needs, and by the 1980s, an industry of correctional
health care popped up, per KFGO.

29 / 50
PA Images // Getty Images
1983: CORRECTIONS CORPORATION OF AMERICA PRIVATIZES PRISONS

The Corrections Corporation of America, now known as CoreCivic, opened in 1983.
Within its first year in business, the for-profit prison and detention center
company would get a first-of-its-kind contract from the Department of Justice to
build, operate, and manage a secure correctional facility, according to a
company video referenced in a Timeline story. It would mark the beginning of the
country’s private prison industry.

30 / 50
Ira Nowinski // Getty Images
1983: SUPERMAX PRISON ERA BEGINS

Inmates at a U.S. Penitentiary near Marion, Illinois, murdered two corrections
officers in 1983, resulting in a permanent lockdown that confined prisoners to
small cells for all but 90 minutes every day. The lockdown would become a model
for new “Supermax” facilities in the coming years.

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31 / 50
New York Post Archives // Getty Images
1984: SENTENCING REFORM ACT BECOMES LAW

The Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 brought major reforms to the federal
sentencing system. It shifted the goal of incarceration away from
rehabilitation, allowed for appellate review of prison sentencing, and made
federal sentences determinate. It also established the U.S. Sentencing
Commission to create sentencing guidelines.

32 / 50
txking // Shutterstock
1986: CONGRESS SETS MANDATORY MINIMUM SENTENCES FOR DRUG OFFENSES

Congress passed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act in 1986. The law would require that
anyone who is convicted of a “serious” drug-trafficking offense, defined as a
crime with a minimum amount of substances (like 500 grams of cocaine) to receive
a mandatory minimum sentence of five years. It also established a mandatory
decade-long sentence for people convicted of “major” trafficking offenses and
doubled the mandatory minimum sentences for second offenders. The policies would
become part of the reason the federal prison population ballooned in the 1990s.

33 / 50
Eric VANDEVILLE // Getty Images
1988: CONGRESS CREATES STRICTER SENTENCES FOR DRUG POSSESSION

Congress established a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison for
anyone convicted of possessing 5 grams of crack cocaine. The policy would have
long-term negative impacts on the Black community, leading to even greater
racial disparities in groups of people behind bars.

34 / 50
Jelson25 // Wikimedia Commons
1989: CALIFORNIA CONSTRUCTS THE FIRST SUPERMAX PRISON

California became home to the first Supermax facility in the nation when it
built Pelican Bay in Del Norte County in 1989. The prison had no need for a
cafeteria, educational facilities, shops, or a yard, as it was designed to
confine incarcerated people to 8-by-10-foot cells for 22.5 hours every day. With
their remaining 90 minutes, prisoners were allowed to use a concrete exercise
pen on their own, per NPR.

35 / 50
Gregory Smith // Getty Images
1990S: FEDERAL PRISON POPULATION SKYROCKETS

Throughout the 1990s, the inmate population at federal correctional facilities
more than doubled amid increased efforts to crack down on drugs and undocumented
immigration. By the end of 1999, the Federal Bureau of Prisons would have around
136,000 inmates under its purview.

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36 / 50
AFP // Getty Images
1994: FEDERAL GOVERNMENT BUILDS ITS FIRST SUPERMAX FACILITY

The Federal Bureau of Prisons constructed its first and only super-maximum
security (Supermax) facility in Colorado in 1994, NPR wrote. It would house a
number of high-profile criminals, including Ted Kaczynski, Robert Hanssen, and
Eric Rudolph.

37 / 50
Cynthia Johnson // Getty Images
1994: CRIME BILL INCREASES PRISON FUNDING

Congress passed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act in 1994. The
act would allocate $9.7 billion to fund prisons. It would also expand the
federal death penalty, address certain types of criminal behavior (such as hate
crimes and sex crimes), and increase mandatory minimum sentencing rules.

38 / 50
ANDREW HOLBROOKE // Getty Images
1996: CONGRESS DENIES WELFARE BENEFITS TO PEOPLE WITH DRUG FELONIES

Congress passed major welfare reform legislation in 1996. The Personal
Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act would deny federal
benefits such as welfare and food assistance to people who have been convicted
of felony drug offenses, making their reentry from prison into society
increasingly challenging, per The Sentencing Project.

39 / 50
Shepard Sherbell // Getty Images
1997: PRIVATE FIRM BEGINS RUNNING FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL CENTER

Privatized prisons reached the federal level when the Bureau of Prisons granted
its contract for a company-managed federal correctional facility in California
in 1997. Less than 20 years later, 13 federal correctional centers nationwide
would become privately managed.

40 / 50
Charles Ommanney // Getty Images
2002: BUREAU OF PRISONS CREATES LIFE CONNECTIONS PROGRAM

The Bureau of Prisons launched a new enrichment program for inmates in 2002: the
Life Connections Program. Participants have the opportunity to join a
faith-based residential program aimed at building values and character, as well
as enhancing reintegration back into the community.

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conversation

41 / 50
Pool // Getty Images
2005: SUPREME COURT STRIKES DOWN FEDERAL SENTENCING RULE

When the U.S. Supreme Court decided United States v. Booker in 2005, it struck
down a rule that imposed requirements for federal district judges to sentence
convicted criminals within the range of federal sentencing guidelines. It made
the federal sentencing guidelines advisory rather than mandatory.

42 / 50
Justin Sullivan // Getty Images
2009: US PRISON POPULATION REACHES ALL-TIME HIGH

An all-time high of 2.3 million people were imprisoned in the U.S. in 2009,
Reason reported. Criminal justice reforms over the subsequent decade would allow
the prison population to drop 11% by 2020.

43 / 50
Ann Johansson // Getty Images
2010: GOVERNMENT ENACTS THE FAIR SENTENCING ACT

The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 raised the amount of crack cocaine for a drug
offense to trigger mandatory five- and 10-year minimum sentences. It was
designed to reduce disparities in sentencing people of different races, which
had previously resulted in thousands of Latinos and Black Americans receiving
longer prison sentences for drug crimes with relatively small quantities of
crack cocaine, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.

44 / 50
SAUL LOEB // Getty Images
2015: PRESIDENT OBAMA VISITS A FEDERAL PRISON

President Obama became the first sitting president to visit a federal prison
when he took a tour of the El Reno prison near Oklahoma City in July 2015. Soon
after, he began calling for reforms of prison conditions and opportunities for
at-risk young people to get help before they make mistakes, NPR reported.

45 / 50
Christian Science Monitor // Getty Images
2016: JUSTICE DEPARTMENT STUDIES VIOLENCE IN PRIVATE PRISONS

An investigation conducted by the Department of Justice in 2016 found that
there’s consistently more violence in private prisons than in their public
counterparts. Journalist Shane Bauer, who worked undercover as a guard at a
private prison, said he was taught not to intervene if he witnessed inmates
stabbing each other.

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46 / 50
josefkubes // Shutterstock
2016: US JUSTICE DEPARTMENT WARNS AGAINST BAIL PRACTICES

The U.S. Justice Department issued a “Dear Colleague” letter in 2016, directed
at people in the state and local judicial systems. The letter asserted that bail
practices that result in someone remaining behind bars because they’re in
poverty violate the 14th Amendment.

47 / 50
txking // Shutterstock
2017: PRISON POPULATION FALLS BELOW 1.5 MILLION

In 2017, the total number of people imprisoned in the U.S. fell to less than 1.5
million—a first since 2004, according to the Vera Institute of Justice. Despite
the overall reduction, the prison population still increased in 20 states.
What’s more, 10 states had “all-time-high” prison populations that year.

48 / 50
Mark Wilson // Getty Images
2018: PRESIDENT TRUMP SIGNS FIRST STEP ACT

In 2018, President Trump signed the First Step Act, a “historic criminal justice
reform bill,” according to the Brennan Center for Justice. It reduced mandatory
minimum prison sentences related to nonviolent drug offenses, eased the federal
government’s “three strikes” rule, and established new rehabilitative programs.

49 / 50
SANDY HUFFAKER // Getty Images
2019: PRISON POPULATION DROPS TO LOWEST IN DECADES

A Bureau of Justice Statistics' survey found that around 419 of every 100,000
Americans were imprisoned in 2019—the lowest rate in nearly 25 years, according
to The Washington Free Beacon. The decline in the number of people behind bars
can be partly attributed to the First Step law, which reduced prison sentences
at the federal level.

50 / 50
SANDY HUFFAKER // Getty Images
2020: CHICAGO JAIL BECOMES CORONAVIRUS HOT SPOT

A Chicago jail became the “largest-known source of coronavirus infections” at
the time, as more than 350 people were infected within two weeks, The New York
Times reported on April 8, 2020. The infections would draw greater attention to
overcrowded and unsanitary conditions in prisons. The pandemic also prompted
authorities to free thousands of inmates across the country.

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HISTORY OF THE US PRISON SYSTEM

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<section> <header> <ul> <li>Story name: History of the US prison system</li>
<li>Canonical URL:
https://stacker.com/stories/4894/history-us-prison-system</li> <li>Written by:
Joni Sweet</li> <li>Description: <a href="https://stacker.com/">Stacker</a>
looks at 50 major moments in the U.S. criminal justice system, according to
information from the Federal Bureau of Prisons and advocacy groups. </li> </ul>
</header> <article> <h2>History of the US prison system</h2> <p>Statistics on
the U.S. prison system paint a sobering picture of incarceration and the
country’s criminal justice system at large. As of 2020, nearly <a
href="https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2020.html">2.3 million people</a>
across the country were behind bars, according to the Prison Policy Initiative.
More than half of those people who are locked up are held at one of 1,833 state
prisons. The rest can be found at one of 3,134 local jails, 110 federal prisons,
80 Indian Country jails, 218 immigration detention centers, and other
facilities.</p> <p>The country’s staggering rate of incarceration—698 per
100,000 residents—is higher than that of any other country, per the Prison
Policy Initiative. How did we get to this point?</p> <p>To find out, <a
href="https://stacker.com/">Stacker</a> took a look at the history of the U.S.
prison system. We scoured information from the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the
U.S. Department of Justice, state criminal justice research, archival journals,
and criminal justice reform advocacy groups to learn about the rise of the
prison-industrial complex and how the country came to lock up such a high
percentage of its own population.</p> <p>The resulting timeline will take you
through the openings of some of the most notorious prisons across the country,
like Alcatraz and Eastern State Penitentiary. It also points out major
legislation that increased the number of people and average length of time
behind bars and led to widespread disparities among the incarceration of people
of color for low-level, nonviolent drug offenses. Finally, we point out
important reform milestones, such as when the U.S. had the lowest approval of
the death penalty, the implementation of key rehabilitation programs, and
attention from the U.S. Justice Department on the unconstitutionality of
bail.</p> <p>Curious about how the U.S. prison system developed since our
country’s founding? Click through to see 50 major moments from 1790 to 2020.</p>
<p><strong>You may also like: </strong> <a
href="https://thestacker.com/stories/3245/most-and-least-popular-senators-america">Most
and least popular senators in America</a></p> <h2>1790: First US penitentiary
opens in Philadelphia</h2> <p>When Walnut Street Jail in Philadelphia was
expanded in 1790 as part of an effort to relieve crowded conditions, it became
the <a
href="https://law.jrank.org/pages/11192/Walnut-Street-Prison.html">country’s
first penitentiary</a>, according to the Law Library. It had an intentionally
designed environment that, while safer and more sanitary than other prisons,
confined inmates to their cells for their entire sentence with little human
contact. The goal was to give incarcerated people time to reflect on their
behavior, sans distractions.</p> <h2>1829: Eastern State Penitentiary becomes
first “modern” prison</h2> <p>Philadelphia became home to the first “modern”
prison in 1829, when Eastern State Penitentiary opened. It touted the practice
of <a
href="https://www.easternstate.org/research/history-eastern-state/timeline">solitary
confinement</a> as a way to give inmates time to reflect on their crimes and
eventually emerge reformed. The penitentiary would later be famous as the place
where Al Capone was incarcerated.</p> <h2>1833: US bans debtors’ prisons</h2>
<p>The federal government <a
href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdal/page/file/918356/download#:~:text=Library%20of%20Congress%20In%20the,Fourteenth%20Amendment&#039;s%20Equal%20Protection%20clause.">abolished
debtors’ prisons</a>, where people had previously been incarcerated for an
inability to make good on their debts, in 1833. Over the following decades,
Congress would develop bankruptcy laws to help resolve unpaid debts.</p>
<h2>1835: Nation’s first women’s prison opens</h2> <p>The country got its <a
href="https://daily.jstor.org/history-of-womens-prisons/">first women’s
prison</a> when Mount Pleasant Female Prison opened in New York in 1835. After
receiving criticism for subjecting incarcerated people to gagging,
straitjackets, and other inhumane conditions, the prison would be shut down 30
years later.</p> <h2>1866: Convict leasing becomes widespread</h2> <p>When the
Civil War ended in 1865, <a
href="https://www.pbs.org/tpt/slavery-by-another-name/themes/convict-leasing/">convict
leasing</a> became widespread in Southern states. This system allowed prisons to
lease out incarcerated people, mostly Black men, to private businesses for a
fee. According to PBS, the system helped enrich states and businesses while
treating the convict laborers dismally.</p> <p><strong>You may also like:
</strong> <a
href="https://thestacker.com/stories/702/states-have-taken-most-refugees-past-decade">States
that have accepted the most refugees in the past decade</a></p> <h2>1871:
Virginia court deems prisoners “slaves of the state”</h2> <p>In the 1871 case
Ruffin v. Commonwealth, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that inmates were “<a
href="https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/publications/abstract.aspx?ID=162920">slaves of
the state</a>” who had forfeited nearly all personal rights. It allowed the
criminal justice system to <a
href="https://www.processhistory.org/prisoners-rights-1/">deny basic
constitutional rights</a> to prisoners for nearly a century, according to
Process.</p> <h2>1891: Government establishes Federal Prison System</h2> <p>In
1891, Congress passed the “Three Prisons Act,” which created the Federal Prisons
System. It allowed the <a
href="https://nicic.gov/history-corrections-america">first three federal prisons
to open</a>—USP Leavenworth, USP McNeil Island, and USP Atlanta—under oversight
from the Department of Justice.</p> <h2>1907: New York establishes first parole
system</h2> <p>In 1907, New York adopted a <a
href="https://duihua.org/dialogue-issue-37-parole-in-the-united-states-people-policies-in-transition/#:~:text=Parole%20in%20US%20History,were%20released%20early%20on%20parole.">comprehensive
parole program</a>—the first state in the country to do so, according to Dui
Hua. The program included modern components of parole, such as indeterminate
sentencing, supervision after release from prison, and definitive criteria for
revoking parole.</p> <h2>1928: Last state outlaws convict leasing</h2>
<p>Alabama became the last state in the nation to outlaw the practice of convict
leasing in 1928. <a
href="https://www.vera.org/reimagining-prison-web-report/american-history-race-and-prison">Chain
gangs</a>, or groups of incarcerated people who were chained together to do hard
labor for punishment, would soon emerge, according to the Vera Institute of
Justice.</p> <h2>1930: Congress creates Bureau of Prisons</h2> <p>While federal
prisons had been around for more than three decades, the Federal Bureau of
Prisons wasn’t established until 1930. It would become responsible for managing
and regulating all federal correctional institutions to “provide more <a
href="https://www.bop.gov/about/">progressive and humane care</a> for federal
inmates.” It was also responsible for ensuring consistency and providing
centralized administration for these facilities.</p> <p><strong>You may also
like: </strong> <a
href="https://thestacker.com/stories/3185/libertarian-gerrymandering-and-50-other-political-terms-you-should-know">Libertarian,
gerrymandering, and 50 other political terms you should know</a></p> <h2>1934:
Alcatraz prison opens in San Francisco Bay</h2> <p>The Federal Bureau of Prisons
opened a now-notorious high-security prison on Alcatraz Island in the San
Francisco Bay in 1934. Designed to be “<a
href="https://www.bop.gov/about/history/alcatraz.jsp">a prison system’s
prison</a>,” Alcatraz was intended to hold inmates who were deemed to be
violent, dangerous, or escape risks.</p> <h2>1934: Congress establishes prison
work-skills corporation</h2> <p>On June 23, 1934, Congress established the <a
href="https://www.bop.gov/about/history/timeline.jsp">Federal Prison
Industries</a>, a government-owned corporation dedicated to helping inmates gain
work skills. The move was an effort to help people successfully transition from
prison back into society and avoid committing future crimes.</p> <h2>1940:
Bureau of Prisons modernizes practices</h2> <p>Between its founding in 1930 and
the subsequent decades, the Bureau of Prisons nearly doubled the number of <a
href="https://www.bop.gov/about/history/timeline.jsp">inmates and
institutions</a> under its purview. It then worked to modernize its practices in
1940, establishing inmate classification and security levels at different
institutions. These concepts are still used by the bureau today.</p> <h2>1940:
Prisons in the North adopt correctional institute model</h2> <p>A new type of
prison reform came about in 1940, with northern states adopting the “<a
href="https://www.vera.org/reimagining-prison-web-report/american-history-race-and-prison">correctional
institution model.</a>” This type of incarceration aimed to reduce the physical
and psychological pain of prisons by offering vocational training, recreation,
visitation privileges, and therapeutic programming. However, these programs were
only provided to people considered capable of reform, which rarely included
people of color, per the Vera Institute of Justice.</p> <h2>1941: Attorney
General bans convict leasing</h2> <p>Attorney General Francis Biddle issued <a
href="https://www.archives.gov/research/investigations/fbi/classifications/050-slavery.html">Circular
No. 3591</a> to all U.S. attorneys in 1941. The circular formally abolished the
practice of convict leasing, as it was a form of involuntary servitude.</p>
<p><strong>You may also like: </strong> <a
href="https://thestacker.com/stories/2583/how-well-do-you-remember-1969">How
well do you remember 1969?</a></p> <h2>1942: All states implement parole
systems</h2> <p>Every state in the country, as well as the federal government,
adopted a parole system by 1942. It would raise the number of prisoners released
through parole, hitting a high 35 years later, when nearly <a
href="https://duihua.org/dialogue-issue-37-parole-in-the-united-states-people-policies-in-transition/#:~:text=Parole%20in%20US%20History,were%20released%20early%20on%20parole.">three
quarters of inmates</a> “were released early on parole,” according to Dui
Hua.</p> <h2>1946: Battle of Alcatraz leaves five people dead</h2> <p>A handful
of inmates at Alcatraz penitentiary staged a violent escape attempt in May 1946.
Now known as the “<a href="https://www.alcatrazhistory.com/battle1.htm">Battle
of Alcatraz</a>,” the unsuccessful escape ended with the deaths of three inmates
and two correctional officers. One other prisoner and 14 guards suffered
injuries, as well.</p> <h2>1959: Corrections adopts “Medical Model”</h2> <p>The
<a href="https://www.bop.gov/about/history/timeline.jsp">“Medical Model</a>” of
corrections gained traction in the late 1950s, according to the Federal Bureau
of Prisons. This theory stated that rehabilitative programs could provide a cure
to the “disease” of criminal behavior. The Bureau of Prisons would go on to
diagnose an incarcerated person through a classification system and offer
educational programs and counseling services as treatment.</p> <h2>1961: Bureau
of Prisons experiments with prerelease centers</h2> <p>As part of an effort to
reduce recidivism, the Bureau of Prisons established three “prerelease centers”
for juvenile offenders in 1961. The experimental halfway houses were intended to
give participants the <a
href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED040272.pdf">tools they need</a> to
avoid a life of crime upon their release, such as a savings account, appropriate
clothing, and a steady job, according to a 1969 report in Criminal Justice
Monograph.</p> <h2>1964: President Johnson signs the Criminal Justice Act</h2>
<p>President Lyndon Johnson signed the <a
href="https://www.uscourts.gov/news/2014/08/20/criminal-justice-act-50-years-landmark-right-counsel">Criminal
Justice Act</a> into law on Aug. 20, 1964. It advanced the right to counsel in
federal courts by providing hourly wages and expenses to lawyers appointed by
the court.</p> <p><strong>You may also like: </strong> <a
href="https://thestacker.com/stories/1066/defining-historical-moments-year-you-were-born">Defining
historical moments from the year you were born</a></p> <h2>1965: Prisoner
Rehabilitation Act becomes law</h2> <p>The passage of the <a
href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/fedpro29&amp;div=66&amp;id=&amp;page=">Prisoner
Rehabilitation Act of 1965</a> led to major changes in federal correctional
work. It offered furloughs, work-release programs, and support from community
residential treatment centers to people incarcerated in federal prisons.</p>
<h2>Mid-1960s: Support for death penalty drops to record low</h2> <p>American
support for the death penalty dropped to record lows in the mid-1960s. When
asked by Gallup if they were in <a
href="https://files.deathpenaltyinfo.org/legacy/images/Gallup2017DeathPenalty.png">favor
of capital punishment</a> for a person who’s been convicted of murder, just 47%
of Americans said yes, while a record high of 42% of Americans said they
opposed.</p> <h2>1971: President Nixon declares war on drugs</h2> <p>President
Nixon paved the path for the zero-tolerance drug policies of the 1980s when he
announced a “<a
href="https://www.drugpolicy.org/issues/brief-history-drug-war">war on
drugs</a>” in June 1971, per the Drug Policy Alliance. Violations of drug laws
would lead to the number of people incarcerated for nonviolent drug law offenses
to skyrocket to more than 400,000 from 1997 from just 50,000 in 1980.</p>
<h2>1971: Attica prison uprising draws attention to Prisoners’ Rights
Movement</h2> <p>Around 1,200 incarcerated people mounted an uprising at <a
href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/riot-at-attica-prison">Attica
Correctional Facility</a> in New York and took 42 staff hostage in September
1971, demanding political rights and improved conditions. After the inmates and
corrections commissioner failed to reach an agreement, Gov. Nelson Rockefeller
ordered state police to take control of the prison. Police fired nearly 2,000
rounds and dropped tear gas by helicopter. Forty-three people died in total,
four of whom were killed by inmates. The incident was considered a defining
moment in the Prisoners’ Rights Movement.</p> <h2>1971: Bureau of Prisons adopts
“Balanced Model”</h2> <p>The “Medical Model” of corrections became viewed as
ineffective in the early 1970s. The <a
href="https://www.bop.gov/about/history/timeline.jsp">Federal Bureau of
Prisons</a> soon shifted to a “Balanced Model” of incarceration, which
determined that the goals of prison were “punishment, deterrence,
incapacitation, and rehabilitation.” The “Balanced Model” is still the
prevailing philosophy of the bureau today.</p> <p><strong>You may also like:
</strong> <a
href="https://thestacker.com/stories/3260/youngest-and-oldest-presidents-us-history">Youngest
and oldest presidents in U.S. history</a></p> <h2>1973: Era of mass
incarceration begins</h2> <p>The U.S. entered a sustained period of rising
incarceration rates beginning in 1973. The rate of <a
href="https://www.nap.edu/read/18613/chapter/4">U.S. residents behind bars</a>
would quintuple from 161 out of 100,000 people in 1972 to 767 per 100,000 in
2007, according to “The Growth of Incarceration in the United States.”</p>
<h2>1974: US Supreme Court upholds some constitutional rights for prisoners</h2>
<p>In the 1974 case Wolff v. McDonnell, a class-action lawsuit launched by an
incarcerated person in Nebraska, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that inspection of
mail between attorneys and inmates violated a person’s right “of <a
href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1973/73-679">access to the courts</a>.”
However, it ruled against the allegation that prison disciplinary proceedings
were a violation of the 14 Amendment’s Due Process Clause, according to
Oyez.</p> <h2>1976: Supreme Court rules on prisoner’s health needs</h2> <p>The
U.S. Supreme Court decided in 1976 that ignoring the <a
href="https://kfgo.com/2020/10/26/special-report-u-s-jails-are-outsourcing-medical-care-and-the-death-toll-is-rising/">medical
needs</a> of an inmate is “unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain”—a breach
of the 8th Amendment. The ruling allowed other inmates to sue after prisons
failed to address their medical needs, and by the 1980s, an industry of
correctional health care popped up, per KFGO.</p> <h2>1983: Corrections
Corporation of America privatizes prisons</h2> <p>The Corrections Corporation of
America, now known as CoreCivic, opened in 1983. Within its first year in
business, the for-profit prison and detention center company would get a <a
href="https://timeline.com/rise-private-prison-contractor-dc5ca6350986">first-of-its-kind
contract</a> from the Department of Justice to build, operate, and manage a
secure correctional facility, according to a company video referenced in a
Timeline story. It would mark the beginning of the country’s private prison
industry.</p> <h2>1983: Supermax prison era begins</h2> <p>Inmates at a U.S.
Penitentiary near Marion, Illinois, murdered two corrections officers in 1983,
resulting in a permanent lockdown that confined prisoners to small cells for <a
href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2013/10/marion-prison-lockdown-thomas-silverstein-how-a-1983-murder-created-america-s-terrible-supermax-prison-culture.html">all
but 90 minutes every day</a>. The lockdown would become a model for new
“Supermax” facilities in the coming years.</p> <p><strong>You may also like:
</strong> <a
href="https://thestacker.com/stories/3250/10-most-common-items-polluting-ocean">10
most common items polluting the ocean </a></p> <h2>1984: Sentencing Reform Act
becomes law</h2> <p>The Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 brought major reforms to
the federal sentencing system. It shifted the goal of incarceration away from
rehabilitation, allowed for appellate review of prison sentencing, and made <a
href="https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/RL32766.html">federal sentences
determinate</a>. It also established the U.S. Sentencing Commission to create
sentencing guidelines.</p> <h2>1986: Congress sets mandatory minimum sentences
for drug offenses</h2> <p>Congress passed the <a
href="https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/drugpolicy/cracksinsystem_20061025.pdf">Anti-Drug
Abuse Act in 1986</a>. The law would require that anyone who is convicted of a
“serious” drug-trafficking offense, defined as a crime with a minimum amount of
substances (like 500 grams of cocaine) to receive a mandatory minimum sentence
of five years. It also established a mandatory decade-long sentence for people
convicted of “major” trafficking offenses and doubled the mandatory minimum
sentences for second offenders. The policies would become part of the reason the
federal prison population ballooned in the 1990s.</p> <h2>1988: Congress creates
stricter sentences for drug possession</h2> <p>Congress established a mandatory
minimum sentence of <a
href="https://www.aclu.org/other/cracks-system-20-years-unjust-federal-crack-cocaine-law">five
years in prison</a> for anyone convicted of possessing 5 grams of crack cocaine.
The policy would have long-term negative impacts on the Black community, leading
to even greater racial disparities in groups of people behind bars.</p>
<h2>1989: California constructs the first Supermax prison</h2> <p>California
became home to the first <a
href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5579901">Supermax
facility</a> in the nation when it built Pelican Bay in Del Norte County in
1989. The prison had no need for a cafeteria, educational facilities, shops, or
a yard, as it was designed to confine incarcerated people to 8-by-10-foot cells
for 22.5 hours every day. With their remaining 90 minutes, prisoners were
allowed to use a concrete exercise pen on their own, per NPR.</p> <h2>1990s:
Federal prison population skyrockets</h2> <p>Throughout the 1990s, the inmate
population at federal correctional facilities more than doubled amid increased
efforts to crack down on drugs and undocumented immigration. By the end of 1999,
the Federal Bureau of Prisons would have around <a
href="https://www.bop.gov/resources/pdfs/BOP_ThenNow_2015_12.pdf">136,000
inmates</a> under its purview.</p> <p><strong>You may also like: </strong> <a
href="https://thestacker.com/stories/3452/50-endangered-species-only-live-amazon-rainforest">50
endangered species that only live in the Amazon rainforest</a></p> <h2>1994:
Federal government builds its first Supermax facility</h2> <p>The Federal Bureau
of Prisons constructed its first and only super-maximum security (Supermax)
facility in Colorado in 1994, NPR wrote. It would house a number of <a
href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5579901">high-profile
criminals</a>, including Ted Kaczynski, Robert Hanssen, and Eric Rudolph.</p>
<h2>1994: Crime Bill increases prison funding</h2> <p>Congress passed the <a
href="https://www.ncjrs.gov/txtfiles/billfs.txt">Violent Crime Control and Law
Enforcement Act in 1994</a>. The act would allocate $9.7 billion to fund
prisons. It would also expand the federal death penalty, address certain types
of criminal behavior (such as hate crimes and sex crimes), and increase
mandatory minimum sentencing rules.</p> <h2>1996: Congress denies welfare
benefits to people with drug felonies</h2> <p>Congress passed major welfare
reform legislation in 1996. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity
Reconciliation Act would deny federal benefits such as welfare and food
assistance to people who have been convicted of felony drug offenses, making
their reentry from prison into society <a
href="https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/a-lifetime-of-punishment-the-impact-of-the-felony-drug-ban-on-welfare-benefits/">increasingly
challenging</a>, per The Sentencing Project.</p> <h2>1997: Private firm begins
running federal correctional center</h2> <p>Privatized prisons reached the
federal level when the Bureau of Prisons granted its contract for a
company-managed <a
href="https://www.bop.gov/resources/pdfs/BOP_ThenNow_2015_12.pdf">federal
correctional facility</a> in California in 1997. Less than 20 years later, 13
federal correctional centers nationwide would become privately managed.</p>
<h2>2002: Bureau of Prisons creates Life Connections Program</h2> <p>The Bureau
of Prisons launched a <a
href="https://www.bop.gov/about/history/timeline.jsp">new enrichment program</a>
for inmates in 2002: the Life Connections Program. Participants have the
opportunity to join a <a
href="https://www.bop.gov/inmates/custody_and_care/religious_programs.jsp">faith-based
residential program</a> aimed at building values and character, as well as
enhancing reintegration back into the community.</p> <p><strong>You may also
like: </strong> <a
href="https://thestacker.com/stories/3453/25-terms-you-should-know-understand-climate-change-conversation">25
terms you should know to understand the climate change conversation</a></p>
<h2>2005: Supreme Court strikes down federal sentencing rule</h2> <p>When the
U.S. Supreme Court decided <a
href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2004/04-104">United States v. Booker in
2005</a>, it struck down a rule that imposed requirements for federal district
judges to sentence convicted criminals within the range of federal sentencing
guidelines. It made the federal sentencing guidelines advisory rather than
mandatory.</p> <h2>2009: US prison population reaches all-time high</h2> <p>An
all-time high of <a
href="https://reason.com/2020/10/23/u-s-incarceration-rate-fell-last-year-to-lowest-level-since-1994/">2.3
million people</a> were imprisoned in the U.S. in 2009, Reason reported.
Criminal justice reforms over the subsequent decade would allow the prison
population to drop 11% by 2020.</p> <h2>2010: Government enacts the Fair
Sentencing Act</h2> <p>The <a
href="https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/thousands-prisoners-now-eligible-receive-fairer-sentences">Fair
Sentencing Act of 2010</a> raised the amount of crack cocaine for a drug offense
to trigger mandatory five- and 10-year minimum sentences. It was designed to
reduce disparities in sentencing people of different races, which had previously
resulted in thousands of Latinos and Black Americans receiving longer prison
sentences for drug crimes with relatively small quantities of crack cocaine,
according to the Brennan Center for Justice.</p> <h2>2015: President Obama
visits a federal prison</h2> <p>President Obama became the first sitting
president to <a
href="https://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/07/16/423612441/obama-visits-federal-prison-a-first-for-a-sitting-president">visit
a federal prison</a> when he took a tour of the El Reno prison near Oklahoma
City in July 2015. Soon after, he began calling for reforms of prison conditions
and opportunities for at-risk young people to get help before they make
mistakes, NPR reported.</p> <h2>2016: Justice department studies violence in
private prisons</h2> <p>An investigation conducted by the Department of Justice
in 2016 found that there’s consistently more violence in private prisons than in
their public counterparts. Journalist Shane Bauer, who worked undercover as a
guard at a private prison, said he was taught <a
href="https://time.com/5405158/the-true-history-of-americas-private-prison-industry/">not
to intervene</a> if he witnessed inmates stabbing each other.</p> <p><strong>You
may also like: </strong> <a
href="https://thestacker.com/stories/3141/what-worlds-most-polluted-beaches-look-today">What
the world's most polluted beaches look like today</a></p> <h2>2016: US Justice
Department warns against bail practices</h2> <p>The U.S. Justice Department
issued a “Dear Colleague” letter in 2016, directed at people in the state and
local judicial systems. The letter asserted that <a
href="https://www.heritage.org/courts/report/the-history-cash-bail">bail
practices</a> that result in someone remaining behind bars because they’re in
poverty violate the 14th Amendment.</p> <h2>2017: Prison population falls below
1.5 million</h2> <p>In 2017, the total number of people imprisoned in the U.S.
fell to less than <a
href="https://www.prisonpolicy.org/research/incarceration_rates_growth_causes/#:~:text=People%20in%20Prison%20in%202017,numbers%20of%20people%20in%20prison.%E2%80%9D">1.5
million</a>—a first since 2004, according to the Vera Institute of Justice.
Despite the overall reduction, the prison population still increased in 20
states. What’s more, 10 states had “all-time-high” prison populations that
year.</p> <h2>2018: President Trump signs First Step Act</h2> <p>In 2018,
President Trump signed the First Step Act, a “<a
href="https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/how-first-step-act-became-law-and-what-happens-next">historic
criminal justice reform bill</a>,” according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
It reduced mandatory minimum prison sentences related to nonviolent drug
offenses, eased the federal government’s “three strikes” rule, and established
new rehabilitative programs.</p> <h2>2019: Prison population drops to lowest in
decades</h2> <p>A Bureau of Justice Statistics' survey found that around <a
href="https://freebeacon.com/policy/american-prisons-are-the-emptiest-theyve-been-since-1995-new-data-show/">419
of every 100,000 Americans</a> were imprisoned in 2019—the lowest rate in nearly
25 years, according to The Washington Free Beacon. The decline in the number of
people behind bars can be partly attributed to the First Step law, which reduced
prison sentences at the federal level.</p> <h2>2020: Chicago jail becomes
coronavirus hot spot</h2> <p>A Chicago jail became the “largest-known source of
<a
href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/08/us/coronavirus-cook-county-jail-chicago.html">coronavirus
infections</a>” at the time, as more than 350 people were infected within two
weeks, The New York Times reported on April 8, 2020. The infections would draw
greater attention to overcrowded and unsanitary conditions in prisons. The
pandemic also prompted authorities to free thousands of inmates across the
country.</p> <p><strong>You may also like: </strong> <a
href="https://thestacker.com/stories/1405/looking-back-100-years-military-history">100
years of military history</a></p> </article> </section> <script
src="https://analytics.stacker.com/tracking/6cb7e441-a361-4deb-b0e7-c85b934f966c/script.js"></script>
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Story name: History of the US prison system Canonical URL:
https://stacker.com/stories/4894/history-us-prison-system Written by: Joni Sweet
Description: Stacker looks at 50 major moments in the U.S. criminal justice
system, according to information from the Federal Bureau of Prisons and advocacy
groups. History of the US prison system Statistics on the U.S. prison system
paint a sobering picture of incarceration and the country’s criminal justice
system at large. As of 2020, nearly 2.3 million people across the country were
behind bars, according to the Prison Policy Initiative. More than half of those
people who are locked up are held at one of 1,833 state prisons. The rest can be
found at one of 3,134 local jails, 110 federal prisons, 80 Indian Country jails,
218 immigration detention centers, and other facilities. The country’s
staggering rate of incarceration—698 per 100,000 residents—is higher than that
of any other country, per the Prison Policy Initiative. How did we get to this
point? To find out, Stacker took a look at the history of the U.S. prison
system. We scoured information from the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the U.S.
Department of Justice, state criminal justice research, archival journals, and
criminal justice reform advocacy groups to learn about the rise of the
prison-industrial complex and how the country came to lock up such a high
percentage of its own population. The resulting timeline will take you through
the openings of some of the most notorious prisons across the country, like
Alcatraz and Eastern State Penitentiary. It also points out major legislation
that increased the number of people and average length of time behind bars and
led to widespread disparities among the incarceration of people of color for
low-level, nonviolent drug offenses. Finally, we point out important reform
milestones, such as when the U.S. had the lowest approval of the death penalty,
the implementation of key rehabilitation programs, and attention from the U.S.
Justice Department on the unconstitutionality of bail. Curious about how the
U.S. prison system developed since our country’s founding? Click through to see
50 major moments from 1790 to 2020. You may also like: Most and least popular
senators in America 1790: First US penitentiary opens in Philadelphia When
Walnut Street Jail in Philadelphia was expanded in 1790 as part of an effort to
relieve crowded conditions, it became the country’s first penitentiary,
according to the Law Library. It had an intentionally designed environment that,
while safer and more sanitary than other prisons, confined inmates to their
cells for their entire sentence with little human contact. The goal was to give
incarcerated people time to reflect on their behavior, sans distractions. 1829:
Eastern State Penitentiary becomes first “modern” prison Philadelphia became
home to the first “modern” prison in 1829, when Eastern State Penitentiary
opened. It touted the practice of solitary confinement as a way to give inmates
time to reflect on their crimes and eventually emerge reformed. The penitentiary
would later be famous as the place where Al Capone was incarcerated. 1833: US
bans debtors’ prisons The federal government abolished debtors’ prisons, where
people had previously been incarcerated for an inability to make good on their
debts, in 1833. Over the following decades, Congress would develop bankruptcy
laws to help resolve unpaid debts. 1835: Nation’s first women’s prison opens The
country got its first women’s prison when Mount Pleasant Female Prison opened in
New York in 1835. After receiving criticism for subjecting incarcerated people
to gagging, straitjackets, and other inhumane conditions, the prison would be
shut down 30 years later. 1866: Convict leasing becomes widespread When the
Civil War ended in 1865, convict leasing became widespread in Southern states.
This system allowed prisons to lease out incarcerated people, mostly Black men,
to private businesses for a fee. According to PBS, the system helped enrich
states and businesses while treating the convict laborers dismally. You may also
like: States that have accepted the most refugees in the past decade 1871:
Virginia court deems prisoners “slaves of the state” In the 1871 case Ruffin v.
Commonwealth, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that inmates were “slaves of the
state” who had forfeited nearly all personal rights. It allowed the criminal
justice system to deny basic constitutional rights to prisoners for nearly a
century, according to Process. 1891: Government establishes Federal Prison
System In 1891, Congress passed the “Three Prisons Act,” which created the
Federal Prisons System. It allowed the first three federal prisons to open—USP
Leavenworth, USP McNeil Island, and USP Atlanta—under oversight from the
Department of Justice. 1907: New York establishes first parole system In 1907,
New York adopted a comprehensive parole program—the first state in the country
to do so, according to Dui Hua. The program included modern components of
parole, such as indeterminate sentencing, supervision after release from prison,
and definitive criteria for revoking parole. 1928: Last state outlaws convict
leasing Alabama became the last state in the nation to outlaw the practice of
convict leasing in 1928. Chain gangs, or groups of incarcerated people who were
chained together to do hard labor for punishment, would soon emerge, according
to the Vera Institute of Justice. 1930: Congress creates Bureau of Prisons While
federal prisons had been around for more than three decades, the Federal Bureau
of Prisons wasn’t established until 1930. It would become responsible for
managing and regulating all federal correctional institutions to “provide more
progressive and humane care for federal inmates.” It was also responsible for
ensuring consistency and providing centralized administration for these
facilities. You may also like: Libertarian, gerrymandering, and 50 other
political terms you should know 1934: Alcatraz prison opens in San Francisco Bay
The Federal Bureau of Prisons opened a now-notorious high-security prison on
Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay in 1934. Designed to be “a prison
system’s prison,” Alcatraz was intended to hold inmates who were deemed to be
violent, dangerous, or escape risks. 1934: Congress establishes prison
work-skills corporation On June 23, 1934, Congress established the Federal
Prison Industries, a government-owned corporation dedicated to helping inmates
gain work skills. The move was an effort to help people successfully transition
from prison back into society and avoid committing future crimes. 1940: Bureau
of Prisons modernizes practices Between its founding in 1930 and the subsequent
decades, the Bureau of Prisons nearly doubled the number of inmates and
institutions under its purview. It then worked to modernize its practices in
1940, establishing inmate classification and security levels at different
institutions. These concepts are still used by the bureau today. 1940: Prisons
in the North adopt correctional institute model A new type of prison reform came
about in 1940, with northern states adopting the “correctional institution
model.” This type of incarceration aimed to reduce the physical and
psychological pain of prisons by offering vocational training, recreation,
visitation privileges, and therapeutic programming. However, these programs were
only provided to people considered capable of reform, which rarely included
people of color, per the Vera Institute of Justice. 1941: Attorney General bans
convict leasing Attorney General Francis Biddle issued Circular No. 3591 to all
U.S. attorneys in 1941. The circular formally abolished the practice of convict
leasing, as it was a form of involuntary servitude. You may also like: How well
do you remember 1969? 1942: All states implement parole systems Every state in
the country, as well as the federal government, adopted a parole system by 1942.
It would raise the number of prisoners released through parole, hitting a high
35 years later, when nearly three quarters of inmates “were released early on
parole,” according to Dui Hua. 1946: Battle of Alcatraz leaves five people dead
A handful of inmates at Alcatraz penitentiary staged a violent escape attempt in
May 1946. Now known as the “Battle of Alcatraz,” the unsuccessful escape ended
with the deaths of three inmates and two correctional officers. One other
prisoner and 14 guards suffered injuries, as well. 1959: Corrections adopts
“Medical Model” The “Medical Model” of corrections gained traction in the late
1950s, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. This theory stated that
rehabilitative programs could provide a cure to the “disease” of criminal
behavior. The Bureau of Prisons would go on to diagnose an incarcerated person
through a classification system and offer educational programs and counseling
services as treatment. 1961: Bureau of Prisons experiments with prerelease
centers As part of an effort to reduce recidivism, the Bureau of Prisons
established three “prerelease centers” for juvenile offenders in 1961. The
experimental halfway houses were intended to give participants the tools they
need to avoid a life of crime upon their release, such as a savings account,
appropriate clothing, and a steady job, according to a 1969 report in Criminal
Justice Monograph. 1964: President Johnson signs the Criminal Justice Act
President Lyndon Johnson signed the Criminal Justice Act into law on Aug. 20,
1964. It advanced the right to counsel in federal courts by providing hourly
wages and expenses to lawyers appointed by the court. You may also like:
Defining historical moments from the year you were born 1965: Prisoner
Rehabilitation Act becomes law The passage of the Prisoner Rehabilitation Act of
1965 led to major changes in federal correctional work. It offered furloughs,
work-release programs, and support from community residential treatment centers
to people incarcerated in federal prisons. Mid-1960s: Support for death penalty
drops to record low American support for the death penalty dropped to record
lows in the mid-1960s. When asked by Gallup if they were in favor of capital
punishment for a person who’s been convicted of murder, just 47% of Americans
said yes, while a record high of 42% of Americans said they opposed. 1971:
President Nixon declares war on drugs President Nixon paved the path for the
zero-tolerance drug policies of the 1980s when he announced a “war on drugs” in
June 1971, per the Drug Policy Alliance. Violations of drug laws would lead to
the number of people incarcerated for nonviolent drug law offenses to skyrocket
to more than 400,000 from 1997 from just 50,000 in 1980. 1971: Attica prison
uprising draws attention to Prisoners’ Rights Movement Around 1,200 incarcerated
people mounted an uprising at Attica Correctional Facility in New York and took
42 staff hostage in September 1971, demanding political rights and improved
conditions. After the inmates and corrections commissioner failed to reach an
agreement, Gov. Nelson Rockefeller ordered state police to take control of the
prison. Police fired nearly 2,000 rounds and dropped tear gas by helicopter.
Forty-three people died in total, four of whom were killed by inmates. The
incident was considered a defining moment in the Prisoners’ Rights Movement.
1971: Bureau of Prisons adopts “Balanced Model” The “Medical Model” of
corrections became viewed as ineffective in the early 1970s. The Federal Bureau
of Prisons soon shifted to a “Balanced Model” of incarceration, which determined
that the goals of prison were “punishment, deterrence, incapacitation, and
rehabilitation.” The “Balanced Model” is still the prevailing philosophy of the
bureau today. You may also like: Youngest and oldest presidents in U.S. history
1973: Era of mass incarceration begins The U.S. entered a sustained period of
rising incarceration rates beginning in 1973. The rate of U.S. residents behind
bars would quintuple from 161 out of 100,000 people in 1972 to 767 per 100,000
in 2007, according to “The Growth of Incarceration in the United States.” 1974:
US Supreme Court upholds some constitutional rights for prisoners In the 1974
case Wolff v. McDonnell, a class-action lawsuit launched by an incarcerated
person in Nebraska, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that inspection of mail between
attorneys and inmates violated a person’s right “of access to the courts.”
However, it ruled against the allegation that prison disciplinary proceedings
were a violation of the 14 Amendment’s Due Process Clause, according to Oyez.
1976: Supreme Court rules on prisoner’s health needs The U.S. Supreme Court
decided in 1976 that ignoring the medical needs of an inmate is “unnecessary and
wanton infliction of pain”—a breach of the 8th Amendment. The ruling allowed
other inmates to sue after prisons failed to address their medical needs, and by
the 1980s, an industry of correctional health care popped up, per KFGO. 1983:
Corrections Corporation of America privatizes prisons The Corrections
Corporation of America, now known as CoreCivic, opened in 1983. Within its first
year in business, the for-profit prison and detention center company would get a
first-of-its-kind contract from the Department of Justice to build, operate, and
manage a secure correctional facility, according to a company video referenced
in a Timeline story. It would mark the beginning of the country’s private prison
industry. 1983: Supermax prison era begins Inmates at a U.S. Penitentiary near
Marion, Illinois, murdered two corrections officers in 1983, resulting in a
permanent lockdown that confined prisoners to small cells for all but 90 minutes
every day. The lockdown would become a model for new “Supermax” facilities in
the coming years. You may also like: 10 most common items polluting the ocean
1984: Sentencing Reform Act becomes law The Sentencing Reform Act of 1984
brought major reforms to the federal sentencing system. It shifted the goal of
incarceration away from rehabilitation, allowed for appellate review of prison
sentencing, and made federal sentences determinate. It also established the U.S.
Sentencing Commission to create sentencing guidelines. 1986: Congress sets
mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses Congress passed the Anti-Drug
Abuse Act in 1986. The law would require that anyone who is convicted of a
“serious” drug-trafficking offense, defined as a crime with a minimum amount of
substances (like 500 grams of cocaine) to receive a mandatory minimum sentence
of five years. It also established a mandatory decade-long sentence for people
convicted of “major” trafficking offenses and doubled the mandatory minimum
sentences for second offenders. The policies would become part of the reason the
federal prison population ballooned in the 1990s. 1988: Congress creates
stricter sentences for drug possession Congress established a mandatory minimum
sentence of five years in prison for anyone convicted of possessing 5 grams of
crack cocaine. The policy would have long-term negative impacts on the Black
community, leading to even greater racial disparities in groups of people behind
bars. 1989: California constructs the first Supermax prison California became
home to the first Supermax facility in the nation when it built Pelican Bay in
Del Norte County in 1989. The prison had no need for a cafeteria, educational
facilities, shops, or a yard, as it was designed to confine incarcerated people
to 8-by-10-foot cells for 22.5 hours every day. With their remaining 90 minutes,
prisoners were allowed to use a concrete exercise pen on their own, per NPR.
1990s: Federal prison population skyrockets Throughout the 1990s, the inmate
population at federal correctional facilities more than doubled amid increased
efforts to crack down on drugs and undocumented immigration. By the end of 1999,
the Federal Bureau of Prisons would have around 136,000 inmates under its
purview. You may also like: 50 endangered species that only live in the Amazon
rainforest 1994: Federal government builds its first Supermax facility The
Federal Bureau of Prisons constructed its first and only super-maximum security
(Supermax) facility in Colorado in 1994, NPR wrote. It would house a number of
high-profile criminals, including Ted Kaczynski, Robert Hanssen, and Eric
Rudolph. 1994: Crime Bill increases prison funding Congress passed the Violent
Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act in 1994. The act would allocate $9.7
billion to fund prisons. It would also expand the federal death penalty, address
certain types of criminal behavior (such as hate crimes and sex crimes), and
increase mandatory minimum sentencing rules. 1996: Congress denies welfare
benefits to people with drug felonies Congress passed major welfare reform
legislation in 1996. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity
Reconciliation Act would deny federal benefits such as welfare and food
assistance to people who have been convicted of felony drug offenses, making
their reentry from prison into society increasingly challenging, per The
Sentencing Project. 1997: Private firm begins running federal correctional
center Privatized prisons reached the federal level when the Bureau of Prisons
granted its contract for a company-managed federal correctional facility in
California in 1997. Less than 20 years later, 13 federal correctional centers
nationwide would become privately managed. 2002: Bureau of Prisons creates Life
Connections Program The Bureau of Prisons launched a new enrichment program for
inmates in 2002: the Life Connections Program. Participants have the opportunity
to join a faith-based residential program aimed at building values and
character, as well as enhancing reintegration back into the community. You may
also like: 25 terms you should know to understand the climate change
conversation 2005: Supreme Court strikes down federal sentencing rule When the
U.S. Supreme Court decided United States v. Booker in 2005, it struck down a
rule that imposed requirements for federal district judges to sentence convicted
criminals within the range of federal sentencing guidelines. It made the federal
sentencing guidelines advisory rather than mandatory. 2009: US prison population
reaches all-time high An all-time high of 2.3 million people were imprisoned in
the U.S. in 2009, Reason reported. Criminal justice reforms over the subsequent
decade would allow the prison population to drop 11% by 2020. 2010: Government
enacts the Fair Sentencing Act The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 raised the amount
of crack cocaine for a drug offense to trigger mandatory five- and 10-year
minimum sentences. It was designed to reduce disparities in sentencing people of
different races, which had previously resulted in thousands of Latinos and Black
Americans receiving longer prison sentences for drug crimes with relatively
small quantities of crack cocaine, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
2015: President Obama visits a federal prison President Obama became the first
sitting president to visit a federal prison when he took a tour of the El Reno
prison near Oklahoma City in July 2015. Soon after, he began calling for reforms
of prison conditions and opportunities for at-risk young people to get help
before they make mistakes, NPR reported. 2016: Justice department studies
violence in private prisons An investigation conducted by the Department of
Justice in 2016 found that there’s consistently more violence in private prisons
than in their public counterparts. Journalist Shane Bauer, who worked undercover
as a guard at a private prison, said he was taught not to intervene if he
witnessed inmates stabbing each other. You may also like: What the world's most
polluted beaches look like today 2016: US Justice Department warns against bail
practices The U.S. Justice Department issued a “Dear Colleague” letter in 2016,
directed at people in the state and local judicial systems. The letter asserted
that bail practices that result in someone remaining behind bars because they’re
in poverty violate the 14th Amendment. 2017: Prison population falls below 1.5
million In 2017, the total number of people imprisoned in the U.S. fell to less
than 1.5 million—a first since 2004, according to the Vera Institute of Justice.
Despite the overall reduction, the prison population still increased in 20
states. What’s more, 10 states had “all-time-high” prison populations that year.
2018: President Trump signs First Step Act In 2018, President Trump signed the
First Step Act, a “historic criminal justice reform bill,” according to the
Brennan Center for Justice. It reduced mandatory minimum prison sentences
related to nonviolent drug offenses, eased the federal government’s “three
strikes” rule, and established new rehabilitative programs. 2019: Prison
population drops to lowest in decades A Bureau of Justice Statistics' survey
found that around 419 of every 100,000 Americans were imprisoned in 2019—the
lowest rate in nearly 25 years, according to The Washington Free Beacon. The
decline in the number of people behind bars can be partly attributed to the
First Step law, which reduced prison sentences at the federal level. 2020:
Chicago jail becomes coronavirus hot spot A Chicago jail became the
“largest-known source of coronavirus infections” at the time, as more than 350
people were infected within two weeks, The New York Times reported on April 8,
2020. The infections would draw greater attention to overcrowded and unsanitary
conditions in prisons. The pandemic also prompted authorities to free thousands
of inmates across the country. You may also like: 100 years of military history
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