Prison and Hospital Reforms
Summary
In 1841, a Boston woman named Dorothea Dix agreed to teach Sunday school at a jail. What she witnessed that day changed her life forever. She was horrified to see that many people in jails were bound in chains and locked in cages. Children accused of minor thefts were jailed with adult criminals. She wanted to figure out if the conditions were this bad everywhere else.To find out, she visited hunderds of jails and prisons throughout Massachusetts.What shocked Dorothea most of all was the way mentally ill people were treated. She decided to speak out to people to help the prisons and mental hospitals become a place that helps people to recover.
Leaders of Reform
Born in the town of Hampden, Maine, she grew up first in Worcester, Massachusetts. At the age of twelve, she sought refuge with her wealthy grandmother in Boston to get away from her alcoholic parents and abusive father. She became the head of Nurses during the civil war. Following the war, she resumed her crusade to improve the care of prisoners, the disabled, and the mentally ill.
Goals of movement
A fair and efficient criminal justice system consistent with the rule of law and ensuring access to justice. Improvement of prison conditions and the prevention of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Child-friendly justice to have children in their own prisons.
Democratic Ideals
This movement sought to expand democratic ideals in that more educated people would be able to be productive members of society, meaning they could vote. Dorothea Dix also proved that crazy people were actually mentally ill, and did not simply choose to be crazy. Her work led to 15 new hospitals and improved conditions in current hospitals of the time. While she did not seek to expand democratic ideals, she did improve the conditions in asylums, which is an indirect increase in the rights of the mentally ill.
Movements success
This movement helped make what is today a asylum instead of a mental institute. More mental people were being addmitted and improved their living conditions. Widespread institutes were created and increased attention to prisoners rights.
Movements failures
Dorothea Dix wanted federal land grants to build state mental hospitals, but this was actually a huge failure. After discovering the horrid conditions of mental facilities, Dorothea reported the situation to a local court. The court spurned her charges, but at any rate, she made the situation public and efforts started to improve conditions.
Picture Bibliography
1.National Park Service, n.d. Web. <http://www.nps.gov/resources/person.htm?id=150>.
2. Amazon, n.d. Web. <http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cartoon-soccer-Sport-Bumper-Sticker/dp/B00QVTQSIW>.
3. CNN, n.d. Web. <http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/01/31/us.egypt.response/>.
4. The B.s. Report. N.p., n.d. Web. <https://thebsreport.wordpress.com/2009/09/11/21-year-old-steals-police-car-thought-it-might-be-fun/man-in-prison-behind-bars-jail/>.
5. What Texas Is Teaching the Country About Mass Incarceration. US News, n.d. Web. <http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/11/19/texas-georgia-mississippi-set-conservative-example-for-criminal-justice-reform>.
Website and Book Bibliography
1. -Brinkley, Alan. Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People. S.l.: Mcgraw-Hill Education, 2015. Print
2. "Prison and Asylum Reform." US History. Independence Hall Association, n.d. Web. <http://www.ushistory.org/us/26d.asp>.
3. History.com. A and E Telivision Company, n.d. Web. <http://www.history.com/topics/womens-history/dorothea-lynde-dix>