Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons records, 1787-1883.

Format:

Other

Author/Creator:

Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons.

Contributor:

Vaux, Roberts, 1786-1836.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Prisons--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia--19th century.

Prisons.

Pennsylvania--Philadelphia.

Prison reformers--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia--19th century.

Prison reformers.

Genre:

Manuscripts, American.

Physical Description:

2 boxes (.8 linear foot)

Place of Publication:

1787-1883.

Biography/History:

After the peace of 1783, a group of prominent Philadelphia citizens led by Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Rush, and others organized a movement to reform the harsh penal code of 1718. The new law substituted public labor for the previous severe punishments. Reaction, however, against the public display of convicts on the streets of the city and the disgraceful conditions in the Walnut Street jail led to the formation in 1787 of the Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons (a name it retained for 100 years, at which time it became The Pennsylvania Prison Society), the first of such societies in the world. Members of the Society were appalled by what they learned about the new Walnut Street prison and the next year presented to the state legislature an account of their investigations of conditions and recommended solitary confinement at hard labor as a remedy and reformative strategy.

Summary:

Collection includes records of convicts, reports on discharged convicts, visiting reports made by prison inspectors, prison hospital records, accounts, a 63-page treatise on penology by Roberts Vaux, and case reports (box 2) from 1862 to 1883, describing convictions, appeals, and acquittals.

OCLC:

429775522