The Great Debate

The Pennsylvania system and the Auburn system emerge during the 1820s. In a century or so, the differences between them will appear minimal, but not during this time. A fierce national‚even international‚debate rages over which system is better, leaving rifts and bitter feelings on either side. The merits and shortcomings of the two competing systems are discussed at great length. The argument centers on how to treat imprisoned criminals, though. No one seriously questions whether using imprisonment as punishment actually deters crime and reforms the criminal.

Europeans come to America to examine and evaluate this extraordinary innovation, this great social experiment. In 1831, Alexis de Toqueville and Gustave Auguste de Beaumont tour prisons around the country. Their subsequent book, On the Penitentiary System in the United States and Its Application in France, will remain in print into the 21st century.

The prison comes to represent American ingenuity and progress, a symbol of new beginnings and utopian possibilities. It will cure offenders and end crime. Still, the Great Prison Debate is decided more on practical than ideological grounds. The expensive Pennsylvania system loses out to the more cost-effective Auburn system, which becomes the model for prisons in America and abroad.

Man In Irons c. 1700