The Auburn System, based on Quaker-run penitentiaries, used hard work and isolation to rehabilitate criminals and offset prison costs. It pioneered lockstep and striped uniforms, but also faced criticism for exploiting prisoners. Despite its brutal practices, it advanced the idea of long-term imprisonment for rehabilitation.
The Auburn System, named after Auburn Jail in New York, was a variation of 19th-century Quaker-run Penitentiaries in Pennsylvania. Combining hard work with isolation, the prison system sought to rehabilitate criminals while using them to offset the cost of running a prison. While many of the brutal disciplinary practices used in the Auburn system have been replaced, its foundations remain the model for many prisons around the world.
Until the late 18th century, prisons in America were generally used for confinement before trials and convictions. Most punishments were either execution or public penance of some kind, such as flogging. The idea of using prisons as criminal punishment was popularized by Pennsylvania Quakers, who frowned upon the constant executions because of their religious beliefs. Under the Quaker system, prisoners were kept in total silence and solitary confinement for the duration of their sentence. The goal was to reform people who had become criminals, and the prisoners were eventually given access to the Bible to help them return to a law-abiding life.
Taking its cue from the Quaker system, the Auburn system also kept prisoners in solitary confinement most of the time. Not speaking was intended to make inmates compliant, while forced labor was a tool for rehabilitation. In principle, labor prisoners were forced to do only for their own good, to teach them the value of hard work. Of course, prisoner labor also brought profit to the prison system, leading some to believe that prisoners were exploited for free labor.
Criticism of the exploitation was hardly unjustifiable, given the practice of charging tourists to enter the prison throughout the 19th century. While this has helped spread similar prison systems around the world, it has also been used as a tool of humiliation for prisoners. Seeing people enter and leave prison freely every day could only underscore their lack of choice.
Many of the stereotypical images of prison come from the Auburn system. It was here that horizontal striped uniforms were introduced. These garments were meant to be humiliating and clearly identify the prisoners for all to see. The Auburn system also pioneered lockstep, the practice of forcing inmates to march together, with eyes downcast and one arm tied to the person in front of them.
For most of the 19th century, punishments in the Auburn system were swift and severe. A capricious warden named Elam Lynds eagerly used caning as a routine punishment, leading to the death of at least one prisoner. By the early twentieth century, most forms of corporal punishment had been abolished, as a vocal minority gained ground in insisting that prisoners should have certain rights.
Today, the Auburn system may seem barbaric in nature, but it was actually an advance in mankind at the time. Before long-term imprisonment existed, hundreds of crimes carried the death penalty, including denial of the existence of God and homosexuality. The purpose of prison systems was to rehabilitate inmates through work and enforced solitude. In addition to bringing brutal consequences, it has also given people the chance for redemption, a humanistic notion in an often unforgiving world.
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