CORRECTIONAL REFORMS DEVELOPMENTS
Among the improvements advocated were classification and separation with better sanitary conditions, rewards for ethical conduct and work, and more stress on education. Offenders between the ages of 16 and 30 sentenced to a facility that placed more emphasis on education and trades training and offered an early release through the marking system, which provided merits and demerits for progress and behavior. Improvements included an introduction of ventilating systems and steel cells that offered plumbing and running water. However, the bucket system of human waste secretion persisted in several prisons (Roth, 2010)
During the progressive time, classification and separation of different types of prisoners achieved. For instance, confinement for drug addicts and the mentally ill (The Prison, 2020). During the early nineteenth century, women incarcerated in the same prisons as males, which raised alarming issues. On measures to prevent sexual seduction, women isolated, separate prison wings established to contain women law offenders. It argued that women had unique needs and required prisons that could respond to their particular needs. It led to the building of more than 20 women’s reformation facilities in that 1870 and 1935 period
Probation, although overlooked by some observers as subverting the concept of fair justice, played a crucial role in that era. Where a member of ordained clergy could escape the harsh penalties of the day. Once surmised that a man was of good character, a bail posted, and the man released from custody (Roth, 2010). This rehabilitation conducted without sending the person to jailing. An offender underwent counseling and supervision from a probation officer. A parole board would examine the prisoner’s behavior in prison, criminal record, and current attitude (The Prison, 2020).
Trials regarding children could address on a separate system: the Juvenile system, which was a child saving movement to save children from the life of crime. This system was for children under the age of 16 (Roth, 2010).