Corrections_Today_Summer_2025_Vol.87_No.2

from the archives

as well as the notorious Oregon boots — footwear fit ted with a metal ring over the ankle to make running impossible. Clubs, thumb-screws, the pillory, and the whipping post also were in evidence, although, as the Rev. William Stoudenmire of the Maryland Prisoners’ Aid Association reported in 1902, such devices were “going out of use.”

by tapping on pipes. Electricity, meanwhile, provided illumination that was safer than gas lights and also provided brighter and more ef ficient illumination — thereby improving security. As Warden Heg told the 1901 National Prison Congress, “The prison should be flooded with [electric] light inside and outside”; other forms of illumination could not furnish such ample light. Telephones, of course, made instant communica tion a reality, enhancing institutional readiness to respond to emergencies. More generally, better sanitation, warmer cellblocks and improved lighting undoubtedly con tributed to greater stability by increasing physical comfort for staff and inmates alike and reducing tension. Some of the first wet cells were constructed as early as the 1820s at Philadelphia’s Eastern State Penitentiary. Night buckets, poor lighting, and other undesirable remnants of 19 th -century pris ons persisted in many prisons well into the 20th century. But by 1900, more and more prisons were installing modern conveniences, with obvious ben efits for security and stability. Looking ahead to technological advances Bertillon measurements, fingerprints, im proved cell design, shackles, and firearms were among the technologies available to prison ad ministrators at the beginning of the 20 th century for identifying inmates and keeping them safely in custody. The same concerns for identification and custody will be paramount for prison admin istrators of the 21 st century, but they will have a breathtaking array of gadgets and tools from which to choose. Many of the corrections technologies in the next century will be adapted from applications developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Department of

More generally, better sanitation, warmer cellblocks and improved lighting undoubtedly contributed to greater stability by increasing physical comfort for staff and inmates alike and reducing tension.

Improving living conditions Other emerging technologies prisons were adopt ing at the start of the 20 th century were not security technologies per se, but they had security implications. New prisons, such as the penitentiaries at Atlanta and Leavenworth, were built with wet cells, electric light ing, steam heat, and, for official use by staff, telephones. These were modern conveniences that were appearing in homes and workplaces throughout the United States, but they had added value in prison settings. Modern, in-cell plumbing meant not only better sanitation but also fewer security risks associated with opening cell doors to remove night buckets or main taining more rudimentary forms of plumbing that gave inmates opportunities to communicate surreptitiously

Summer 2025 | Corrections Today

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