Punishment and Penitentiaries

Punishment and Penitentiaries
The History of Punishment
The earliest history of punishment began when the founder of the 3rd dynasty of Ur, created the earliest code known as the Ur-Nammu back in 2050 B.C. In the Ur-Nammu code, there were clear statements about if a person does something, what he will have to pay. Usually the payment was in silver and in later years there were records that the death penalty was given to murderers.
The Code of Hammurabi was written in 1750 B.C. By this code, the abiding principle was Talio, which had to do for mutilating or amputating the part of the body that had committed the crime. Under the Code of Hammurabi, the death penalty was awarded for crimes such as thievery, selling or receiving stolen goods, kidnapping, assisting fugitive slaves and for the sale of drink or even keeping a disorderly tavern. In the first five books of the Bible, Biblical punishments follow Hammurabi.
In later eras, each civilization developed their set of codes and punishments to fit their needs and own beliefs.
The Development of Prisons Until the late 18th century, prisons were used mainly for the confinement of debtors who could not meet their obligations, of accused persons waiting to be tried, and of convicts who were waiting for their sentences—either death or banishment—to be put in effect. Imprisonment, later, also became the means of punishing convicted criminals. During the 16th century, a number of houses of correction were established in England and on this Continent for the reform of minor offenders. The main emphasis was on strict discipline and hard labor. Solitary confinement of criminals became an ideal among rationalist reformers of the 18th century. They believed that solitude would help the offender to become penitent and that penitence would result in reformation. This idea was