CJA/234
April 15, 2013

History of Corrections * In 2011, the United States had about 6,977,700 inmates in its correctional facilities. Correctional facilities can also be referred to as jails, state prisons, and federal prisons. There are also many different security levels within jails, state prisons, and federal prisons. Let’s start by discussing what jails are, as well as a brief history. * The term “jail” is used by counties and cities to house criminals for short periods of time. Jails normally house individuals who have been convicted to serve a short sentence, awaiting trial, people who have not yet posted bond and detainees who have been arrested on suspicion of committing a crime. * The first jail, also known as “gaol” was built in England by King Henry II in 1166. The gaol’s original purpose was to detain individuals awaiting trial, however, vagrancy had become a problem in the fourteenth and eighteenth century, and jails were used to house displaced persons, mentally ill, and the poor (Seiter, p. 72, 2011). Individuals housed in these early jails lived in deplorable conditions. They were filthy, had horrible food, and little medical care. John Howard, who became the sheriff of Bedfordshire in 1773, saw these horrible conditions and drafted the Penitentiary Act of 1779. The Penitentiary Act created four requirements for English prisons and jails: 1. Secure and sanitary structures, 2. Systematic inspections, 3. Abolition of fees charged to inmates and 4. A reformatory regime in which inmates were confined in solitary cells but worked in common rooms during the day (Seiter, p. 73, 2011). * Early jails in the United States followed the English model, but instead of cells, inmates were held in one large room and were often fined (Seiter, p. 73, 2011). Individuals who were too poor to pay their fines were held in