History of Incarceration

Philadelphia has a very deep history of Incarceration. Incarceration was used sparsely mainly for those who were awaiting trial. It was common for fines, restitution or corporal punishment to be used instead of prison time however as the colonies grew, forts and blockhouses were used to hold those who broke laws.  Quaker values had a large influence on Pennsylvania prison philosophy. With the death penalty banned those in power had to be creative in rehabilitating those who broke the laws of Pennsylvania.  

 The first jail on the record was constructed in late 1682 or early 1683 this was a small box-like structure located on the corner of the second and high streets. Over the coming forty years, many other box-like jails were constructed near the original. A stone prison was opened in 1720 housing debtors, runaway apprentices, and untried prisoners this would be known as Old Stone Prison. In the coming years Old Stone Prison would become a haven for corruption due to the control residing with the Sheriff. This caused a push by local officials in 1773 for Walnut Street Jail to open. Old Stone closed three years later in 1776. Yet it seemed Walnut Street fell to the same mismanagement as Old Stone. Thus with the post-enlightenment minds, the prison society was created to advocate for prisoners. The law mandating solitary confinement in Walnut Street and the building of a new penitentiary were put in place. Walnut Street Jail was changed to Walnut Street Prison and was the first state prison in the country. With Walnut Street as an experiment of solitary confinement, the thought Eastern state’s Philosophy came to life. 

One of the main reasons for the development of new prisons in Pennsylvania has been to solve their problem over overpopulation. The graph on the right demonstrates how since 1983 the prison population in Pennsylvania has increased two hundred ninety-four percent. This increase in population is one of the main factors leading to the development from Walnut Street Prison to SCI Phoenix.