Imprisonment: Ancient Times to Modern Day - Essay Sample

Introduction

The concept of imprisonment dates back to ancient times. Civilization required the maintenance of public order to facilitate a well-functioning society. As such, to preserve order, there was a need for imprisonment as a mode of punishment against the people who did not abide by the set laws. The earliest known civilization to adopt imprisonment as a form of punishment was the Mesopotamian civilization. For ancient Greece, it was different. Compared to modern times, prisons were used to house criminals that had been condemned to death as they awaited execution ("Prisons and Imprisonment in the Ancient World: Punishments Used to Maintain Public Order", 2019). With that in mind, this paper aims at exploring the prison changes from ancient Greece to modern times.

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Before exploring these changes, it would be imperative to delve into the primary facts about punishment in ancient Greece. Essentially, imprisonment was one of the modes of punishment with others such as fines, public humiliation in the stocks, and an exile from the city, total disfranchisement and death. If a citizen broke the set laws, he was obliged to study the law and represent himself in a court of law since there were no lawyers. Slaves, immigrants and women were powerless and that meant that their owner or guardian was responsible for their actions and representation in a court of law. Additionally, imprisonment was attached to fines. Most of the wealthy people were rarely imprisoned since they could afford the fine. As such, the majority of the prisoners during this era were either slaves or citizens from low social and economic classes (Allen, 2003).

The above-mentioned facts may sound cruel but the conditions and construction of the prisons were even worse. Compared to the modern prison plans that provide separate pre-trial, convicted, vulnerable and segregation housing zones, ancient Greece prisons consisted of small dungeon-like caves with limited ventilation to hold all the criminals awaiting their execution (Coyle & Fair, 2018). But this difference in the structure of an ancient and modern prison can be explained by the idea behind the two. For the ancient prison, imprisonment was a penalty dictated by their penal system. This means that the harsh conditions documented served both as retribution and restitution and not for correction (Virginia, 1997). However, the philosophical and practice evolution of imprisonment and corrections has continued changing how the modern prison is constructed. For instance, while the 21st century has still maintained the four main goals of the sentencing process, which include rehabilitation, retribution, incapacitation and deterrence, a shift in the main goal has greatly altered even the design of prisons (Mackenzie, 2001).

With the change in the construction of prisons, the treatment of prisoners has also changed. Fundamentally, the general treatment of all prisoners, regardless of the special needs, who found themselves in the cells was rather cruel. According to Allen (1997), those who happened to be freed from the bonds after some time could not walk like other people or assume the normal posture and movement. This shows that their movement was restrained. Virginia (1997) purports that despite being provided with couches and bathwater, the inmates were forced to wear shackles and induced perpetual physical torture. The recently arrested, those that had been awaiting trial, the condemned awaiting execution and the debtors all shared one cell. This phenomenon paints a rather depressing state where inmates were not only physically tortured but also mentally devastated.

The treatment described above is not experienced in the modern penal system. While the ancient system physically abused prisoners, the modern system is guided by various international standards that stipulate the treatment and detention conditions in correction facilities. These standards include the UN Convention against Torture and Revised UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. For that reason, rather than using prisons for punishment, prisoners are given a second chance to mend their character before being integrated back to the society ("Prison conditions: key facts - Penal Reform International", 2019).

On another note, in modern times, prisons are continuously exploring management strategies to reduce operation costs and overcrowding whereas improving safety, inmate programming and special populations. For instance, due to an increasing population in prisons, stakeholders and policymakers are turning to privatization to provide solutions to improve prison capacity at a relatively lower cost. Such a management strategy did not exist during the ancient Greek penal system (Pavic, 2016). According to Virginia (1997), the management of prisons at the time was exclusively assigned to the Eleven by the Law of the land. The Eleven supervised the execution of criminals in addition to making arrests with assistance from public slaves. They were also mandated to provide security and perform routine tasks such as deciding which inmate should be put in bonds, fetter or stocks. It was an overwhelming task for a single unit and would result in chaos that, sometimes, led to the escape of prisoners during festivals. Therefore, a change to modern prisons management strategy was necessary considering the evolving philosophy from retribution to rehabilitation-centered.

From the above account, the main cause of change in construction, treatment and management styles of prisons is the philosophical evolution of sentencing. As stated earlier, the ancient Greek penal system considered imprisonment as a form of punishment hence brought about the retribution aspects in the prison infrastructure and processes. In modern times, while imprisonment integrates the aspect of retribution, prisons tend to prioritize on rehabilitating and reforming inmates before releasing them back to society.

References

Allen, D. S. (2003). Punishment in Ancient Athens. Harvard University, Center for Hellenic Studies.

Allen, D. (1997). Imprisonment in Classical Athens. The Classical Quarterly, 47(1), 121-135. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/639603

Coyle, A., & Fair, H. (2018). A human rights approach to prison management: Handbook for prison staff. Institute for Criminal Policy Research Birkbeck, University of London.

Mackenzie, D. L. (2001). Sentencing and Corrections in the 21st Century: Setting the Stage for the Future. University of Maryland, College Park, Md., Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Evaluation Research Group.

Pavic, I. (2016). Perspectives of Prison Privatization as a Solution to the Prison System Crisis in Croatia. European Journal of multidisciplinary studies, 1(6), 186-198.

Prisons and Imprisonment in the Ancient World: Punishments Used to Maintain Public Order. (2019). Retrieved 19 July 2019, from https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-ancient-traditions/prisons-and-imprisonment-ancient-world-punishments-used-maintain-public-020588

Prison conditions: key facts - Penal Reform International. (2019). Retrieved 19 July 2019, from https://www.penalreform.org/priorities/prison-conditions/key-facts/

Virginia Hunter. (1997). The Prison of Athens: A Comparative Perspective. Phoenix, 51(3/4), 296-326. doi:10.2307/1192540