Why We Use Prisons to Punish Criminal Offenders: A Socio-Historical Investigation into the Evolution of the Use of Prisons as a Method of Punishment.

• In Event: Convict Criminology #1: History, Research, and Praxis in Convict Criminology

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to gain insight into why we use prisons to punish criminal offenders. To answer this question, we conduct a socio-historical investigation into the use of prisons that involves a review of Michel Foucault’s thesis that the prison system is part of a normalized carceral network of discipline used by society to control citizens that is passed down over the generations, Rusche and Kirchheimer’s Hypothesis that research into the history of prisons shows a direct relationship between changing imprisonment rates and changing unemployment rates, Garland’s historical investigation into the modern penal policy, Sellin’s work on the relationship between slavery and the prison system and Pisciotta’s work on the evolution of reformatory system in the United States. The findings from each of these studies will then be synthesized to answer the research question on why we use currently use prison as a method of punishment. The paper closes with a discussion of the implications the study has for prison reform and reducing the use of mass imprisonment crime control strategies.

Author

• Gary J. Kowaluk, Lincoln University of Missouri