Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - II. Chapter. The rise and development of the correction-system
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has been proofread at least once.
(diff)
(history)
Denna sida har korrekturlästs minst en gång.
(skillnad)
(historik)
false foundation, and took a false direction, which,
the longer it was followed, the farther it conducted
from the true object. It was determined to make
a new attempt to find a more rational solution of
a problem so important to the public peace and
comfort; but in order to avoid the faults already
committed, they cast themselves, as is often the case,
into the contrary extreme. It had been found,
that the prisoners’ being together had caused an
increasing corruption, which the strictest labour
could not prevent, and the thought presented itself,
that only their perfect separation could remedy the
evil. Here also the original idea was right, but
it failed in the execution.
The National-assembly in New-York directed,
in 1821, that 80 individuals, chosen among the most
hardened criminals, should be shut up each in his
cell, there to be kept in perfect solitude, without
permission to work, or means of obtaining any kind
of employment. This measure was too much opposed
to the necessity man feels for activity and for the
society of his fellow creatures, and its consequences
were not long in showing themselves in all their
horror. “The unhappy prisoners,” so say Beaumont
and Tocqueville, “fell into such an evident
debility, that their keepers began to fear for their lives;
five fell a sacrifice within a year, one became rnad,
and the moral condition of the rest appeared no
less alarming.” It was necessary to discontinue
this inhuman experiment; 26 of those remaining
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
