A brief history using images
and data to represent a
portion of Prison Education
in the United States
Following the passage of a Pennsylvania
state legislative act in 1790, Walnut Street
Jail in Philadelphia, became the first state
prison in the United States.
This Philadelphia System as it came to be known,
was designed by Quakers and was developed
around their religious beliefs. The latin root of
the term Penitentiary is remorse. Quakers
believed that solitary confinement would provide
prisons the opportunity to reflect and …
The first education program in prison was religious
and was given through direct religious education
as well as indirectly through isolation and forced
reflection. (Quakers believe that God speaks to
individuals through silent contemplation).
The Prison’s Three Objectives:
• Ensure Public Security
• Reformation of Prisoners
• Humanity toward those unhappy members
of society
Walnut Street Jail was replaced by the Eastern State
Penitentiary
• In 1822, work began on what was to become Eastern
State Penitentiary, although at the time it was called
Cherry Hill because it displaced a cherry orchard.
Despite not being finished, the prison opened in 1829.
Completed in 1836, it turned out to be one of the largest
structures in the country at the time far exceeding
preliminary cost estimates. Each prisoner was to be
provided with a cell from which they would rarely leave
and each cell had to be large enough to be a workplace
and have a small individual exercise yard attached.
Cutting edge technology of the 1820s and 1830s was
used to install conveniences unmatched in other public
buildings: central heating (before the U.S. Capitol); a
flush toilet in each cell (long before the White House was
provided with such conveniences); shower baths
(apparently the first in the country).
Late photograph of Eastern State
Penitentiary
Eastern State Penitentiary
• The system of 24-hour separation of each prisoner coupled with incell feeding, came to be known as the Pennsylvania System or
Separate System, and remained the official position of the
Pennsylvania Prison Society throughout the 19th century, although
the system and its unusual architecture – a central hub and radiating
cellblocks – were seldom imitated in other states. An alternative
system known as the Auburn or Silent system developed elsewhere
in the United States, with individual sleeping cells, sometimes as
small as 2½ by 6 ½ feet, and work in congregate shops in silence
during the day. By the early decades of the 20th Century, neither
system was used in the United States. However, the Separate
System and its distinctive hub-and-spoke or radial architecture,
which had developed in the Philadelphia prison, became the
template for reform all over Europe, South America, and Asia.
Education in Prison
Began When?
Prison education began when the prison opened, and was a result of
Quaker religious beliefs.
Solitary Confinement led to limited human contact for prisoners.
Chaplains were the primary contacts for prisoners and
…[They] would visit … cell[s] during the evening to discuss readings
from the Bible…. The chaplain by necessity, was the … first prison
teacher.… [I]f a prisoner could not read the Bible he could neither
contemplate its teachings nor … reflect upon his errant life, which
was the ultimate goal of the penitentiary. It was therefore incumbent
upon the chaplain to provide lessons in reading for the illiterate in
order to offer the appropriate avenue for salvation. [see paper for
references]
Education in Prison
benefits who?
An historical debate about the purpose of
prisons and imprisonment has been
ongoing.
Punishment or Rehabilitation?
Prisoner education falls under rehabilitation.
Popular and political opinion about this
have effected funding cycles of prison
education.
Different Terminology For Incarceration of
Youth and Adults
• Reformatory
• Industrial School
• Penitentiary
• Juvenile Hall
Janie Porter Barrett, reformer and founder of the,
Virginia Industrial School for Colored Girls in 1915
Janie Porter Barrett, who founded the
Locus Street Settlement in 1890 in
Hampton, Virginia, modeled her settlement
house after Hull House founded the year
before by Jane Addams. The Locust Street
Settlement was operated out of the home
until 1902 when a separate physical facility
was built. Among other activities, Barrett
initiated child placement activities from
Locust Street. She later continued her child
saving interests outside of Richmond,
Virginia where, with the help of The Virginia
State Federation of Colored Women’s
Clubs, she founded the Virginia Industrial
School for Colored Girls in 1915. Barrett’s
approach to social reform also included
interracial cooperation. White social
reformers such as Jane Addams, who, in
1911, gave a Chicago tea party at Hull
House in Barrett’s honor, recognized her
work.
The Virginia Industrial School for Colored
Girls, which exists today as the Barrett
Learning Center became a model for other
states. Before officially opening the training
facility, Barrett used consultation from Dr.
Hastings Hart of the Russell Sage
Foundation. Without a doubt, she
established a standard of care for
dependent Black children who had
heretofore been treated poorly. At her
home school, as it was called, Barrett
created a growth promoting atmosphere for
young Black girls. The child welfare and
educational principles used to foster the
growth and development of the dependent
girls in her care were adapted from the
Child Welfare Department of the Russell
Sage Foundation, now the Child Welfare
League of America. Her expressed
philosophy is akin to contemporary social
work values. A comparative chart follows.
Janie Porter Barrett Philosophy
Comparative Chart
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EXPRESSED PHILOSOPHY/EDUCATIONAL THEORY SOCIAL WORK VALUE/PRINCIPLE
Kindness rather than severity.
Give her every chance to make good, leaving mistakes behind.
I have an open forum as often as the girls want it, where a girl can say anything she has on her
mind
The white people and black people are working together to liberate the lowliest girls in our
Commonwealth from ignorance, prejudice, hatred, vice...
...teaching them the lessons of love of race, love of fellow-man, love of country.
We are trying hard to live by the Golden Rule.
Accomplishment through faith, goodwill, cooperation.
SOCIAL WORK VALUE/PRINCIPLE
Non-judgmental/non-punitive
Acceptance, basic worth and dignity
Purposeful expression of feelings
Improving quality of life, realization of goals and aspirations
Democratic/caring social order
Justice and fairness
Harmony, group cooperation
"At that time, there was no place but the jail for a colored girl…”
--Janie Porter Barrett
Federation Cottage (Honor Cottage) of Virginia Industrial School
Education in Adult Prisons
The photo: A collaborative program bringing the instructional resources
of Wesleyan University to the maximum security Cheshire Correctional
Institute in Connecticut
After the Pell Grant was created in the 1970s higher education was
widely available in the adult prison system. Prisoners were able to work
toward and achieve college degrees while serving their time.
Graduation at San Quentin
Prison
Access to Pell Grant funding
Revoked from Prisoners
• In 1994 President Clinton signed a crime bill
that stopped funding for people convicted of
felony crimes.
• This created severe cuts in higher education
programs in adult prisons.
• Currently there are only several privately
funded higher education programs operating
in the United States Prison system
One of the few College Programs operating in Prisons in the United
States. Bard College’s Prison Initiative Graduation.
The following are current social and
cultural commentaries taking a stance
against the disparities in prison spending
vs. spending on public education
spending:
The End