Jennifer Graber
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- July 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807834572
- eISBN:
- 9781469603339
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807877838_graber
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
Focusing on the intersection of Christianity and politics in the American penitentiary system, this book explores evangelical Protestants' efforts to make religion central to emerging practices and ...
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Focusing on the intersection of Christianity and politics in the American penitentiary system, this book explores evangelical Protestants' efforts to make religion central to emerging practices and philosophies of prison discipline from the 1790s through the 1850s. Initially, state and prison officials welcomed Protestant reformers' and ministers' recommendations, particularly their ideas about inmate suffering and redemption. Over time, however, officials proved less receptive to the reformers' activities, and inmates also opposed them. Ensuing debates between reformers, officials, and inmates revealed deep disagreements over religion's place in prisons and in the wider public sphere as the separation of church and state took hold and the nation's religious environment became more diverse and competitive. Examining the innovative New York prison system, the author shows how Protestant reformers failed to realize their dreams of large-scale inmate conversion or of prisons that reflected their values. To keep a foothold in prisons, reformers were forced to relinquish their Protestant terminology and practices and instead to adopt secular ideas about American morals, virtues, and citizenship. The author argues that, by revising their original understanding of prisoner suffering and redemption, reformers learned to see inmates' afflictions not as a necessary prelude to a sinner's experience of grace but as the required punishment for breaking the new nation's laws.Less
Focusing on the intersection of Christianity and politics in the American penitentiary system, this book explores evangelical Protestants' efforts to make religion central to emerging practices and philosophies of prison discipline from the 1790s through the 1850s. Initially, state and prison officials welcomed Protestant reformers' and ministers' recommendations, particularly their ideas about inmate suffering and redemption. Over time, however, officials proved less receptive to the reformers' activities, and inmates also opposed them. Ensuing debates between reformers, officials, and inmates revealed deep disagreements over religion's place in prisons and in the wider public sphere as the separation of church and state took hold and the nation's religious environment became more diverse and competitive. Examining the innovative New York prison system, the author shows how Protestant reformers failed to realize their dreams of large-scale inmate conversion or of prisons that reflected their values. To keep a foothold in prisons, reformers were forced to relinquish their Protestant terminology and practices and instead to adopt secular ideas about American morals, virtues, and citizenship. The author argues that, by revising their original understanding of prisoner suffering and redemption, reformers learned to see inmates' afflictions not as a necessary prelude to a sinner's experience of grace but as the required punishment for breaking the new nation's laws.
Kent F. Schull
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780748641734
- eISBN:
- 9781474400886
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748641734.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
Chapter Five investigates the Ottoman Prison Administration’s attempts to professionalize its prison cadre in order to combat corruption and prisoner abuse. Ottoman administrators viewed the prison ...
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Chapter Five investigates the Ottoman Prison Administration’s attempts to professionalize its prison cadre in order to combat corruption and prisoner abuse. Ottoman administrators viewed the prison cadre as linchpins of successful prison reform and prisoner rehabilitation. In their minds, the ideal prison guard would be a former military or gendarme officer with good moral character, who could read and write, and had a clear knowledge of the penal codes. This chapter looks at these attempts to reform the prison cadre and its effectiveness in light of actual prisoner experiences that reveal a culture of corruption, collusion, and exploitation. These relationships concretely demonstrate the blurred boundaries between guards and criminals, their power relationships, and consequently between state and society.Less
Chapter Five investigates the Ottoman Prison Administration’s attempts to professionalize its prison cadre in order to combat corruption and prisoner abuse. Ottoman administrators viewed the prison cadre as linchpins of successful prison reform and prisoner rehabilitation. In their minds, the ideal prison guard would be a former military or gendarme officer with good moral character, who could read and write, and had a clear knowledge of the penal codes. This chapter looks at these attempts to reform the prison cadre and its effectiveness in light of actual prisoner experiences that reveal a culture of corruption, collusion, and exploitation. These relationships concretely demonstrate the blurred boundaries between guards and criminals, their power relationships, and consequently between state and society.
