Question

All answers must be in your own words.

What is importance of the Walnut Street Jail?

Answer 1

Walnut street jail in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was first opened in 1775, which brought the concepts of prison architecture and prison administration in the modern American history. The building was designed in such a way that it could hold groups of prisoners in a room. The cells & corridors were connected in such a way that prisoners could not communicate with each other. Thus it was the first prison especially designed & managed for prison activities. Initially it served as a holding facility for accused till they were convicted. After conviction offenders faced harsh punishments including the stocks, whippings, brandings, and beatings.

But during a period of reforms humanitarians in Philadelphia & Quakers came to realize that cruelty & harsh punishment are of little help to deter from crime. They successfully advocated for combating crime through solitary confinement, isolation & labor. Quakers specially believed in penitence & self-examination to achieve salvation. Therefore a new era of isolating prisoners started in walnut street jail consider to be first of such an experiment in the US prison system. All prisoners were sentenced to labor where they were given tasks of weaving, nail making shoemaking & carding wool.

Due to the efforts of Quakers a part of walnut street jail was converted into the penitentiary house for serious offenders which is consider first of such a facility in the United States. This penitentiary house was built due to the humanitarian efforts of Quakers who thought cruelty & harsh punishment are of little help to deter from crime. Thus such prisoners were sentenced to solitary confinement in individual cells. This system later became famous as ‘Pennsylvanian system’.

Another importance of Wall nut street jail is that first manned balloon flight was organized in the prison yard of this jail.