Historical Vignette-- An Example: Why the History of Prison Reform is Called The Hidden Heritage

Historical vignette-- An example: Why the history of prison reform is called The Hidden Heritag

Historical Vignette: When Pestalozzi Went to Meet Bonaparte

Historical Vignette: When Pestalozzi Went to Meet Bonapart

Historical Vignette-- Mettray

In 1840, near Tours, France, jurist Frederick Auguste Demetz founded Mettray, a family substitute institution for juveniles. Before opening Mettray, “Demetz trained 27 assistants for. . .seven months.” (Eriksson, T. [1976]. The Reformers: An Historical Survey of Pioneer Experiments in the Treatment of Criminals. New York: Elsevier, 1976, p. 102). The institution was known as a school and employed teachers. Its curriculum consisted of “religion, philosophy, physics, chemistry, mathematics, French, Latin, Greek, German, English, writing, book-keeping, drawing, and music. . .” (Eriksson, 1976, p. 122). Mettray students were “from more or less wealthy social backgrounds,” and they “left it reformed” (Eriksson, 1976, p. 123). In France, reforms in juvenile facilities took center stage around 1900. By that time Mettray had become almost military. . .the institutional population consisted of 325 boys sentenced for crimes, 99 who had been remanded for reformative Treatment (correction paternelle), and 25 who had been handed over . . . by affluent parents. . . .Each week the ‘families’ [groups of prisoners were assigned to a housing unit with a teacher(s) and called a family] had a good conduct competition, the winner being the one with the fewest penalties. The reward was an extra meal with meat and the best placing at institutional festivities. Fourteen different trades could be practiced, but the majority of pupils (a total of 253) did farm work. (Eriksson, 1976, p. 123). Mettray closed in 1937. During its early years it had been the innovative French juvenile institution. Later Mettray had become “the focus of increasingly bitter public criticism.” (Eriksson, 1976, p. 128)

Relationships Between Racial Slavery, Incarceration, and Policing, Part I

Relationships Between Racial Slavery, Incarceration, and Policing, Part

Call it What it is: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) From Life in Prison

Call it What it is: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) From Life in Priso