The Evolution of Institutionalized Slavery

The American criminal justice system evolved over the last 200-300 years.  Prior to the late 1700’s, the holding of criminals consisted of what  in modern days are called jails.  As in modern times, jails were considered temporary holding cells and not necessarily a place for punishment.  In early colonial America, most crimes were considered a capital offense, punishable by death.  Punishment for crimes later evolved to corporal punishment such as whipping or branding.  By the later part of the 18th century, fines became a more common form of punishment which was often used in conjunction with corporal punishment.

In the late 1700’s there was social pressure to reform the penal system because some believed that capital and corporate punishment failed to function as a deterrence.  Advocates felt that capital and corporate punishment were inhumane and that reform was possible.  Isolation and reflection were the primary mechanisms for reform before 1870.  Reformation was measured by obedience and hard work.  The first state prison opened in 1785 in Massachusetts.  It was a dormitory like setting where prisoners normally spent a couple of years.  Over time the prison term of sentencing became longer.    Located on  22 acre island, it became known as a hard labor prison.  In the late 1700’s 25% of all Brittish immigrants to America were convicts.  The convicts were favored to slaves because they didn’t have to be supported in their old age.  The convicts worked from dawn to dusk which resulted in mortality rates of 16-25%.

By the early 1800’s, the Auburn prison in New York became the model for prisons in America.  The Auburn prison system emphasized communal work and solitary sleeping.  The new philosophy was economically self-sustaining prisons.  Convict labor would be the new norm to achieve cost effectiveness.  Many states would use contracted convict labor to subsidize their budgets.  Prisoners from the Auburn prison were used to build the Sing Sing prison in New York.  The prison cells at Sing Sing were 3 X 7 feet with no plumbing. 

Prior to the Civil War, the prison system housed mostly white men.  Women accounted for approximately 7% of the prison population.  The cell blocks were segregated by race.  Some prisons had separate wings for women, while others mixed male and female prisoners together.    Women often became pregnant in prisons and raised their children in prison.  Babies of black female prisoners became property of the state.  Black women were allowed to raise their babies until the age of 10, at which time the child was sold into slavery.  In 1835, the Pleasant Female Prison was opened.  By 1865 its population reached twice its capacity.

The institution of slavery in America is a well-oiled machine.  Before the Civil War it did not discriminate.  The slavery institution housed its white members in the prison system and the black members were housed by slave owners.   The 3/5ths Compromise banned international slave trade in 1808.  The small population of black prisoners enabled the replenishment of the slave trade stock in America.  The dynamics of the institution of slavery changed dramatically after the civil war.  The implementation of the 13^th Amendment will be explored in the next section of this series where we will examine how subsequent legislature supported the institution of slavery.