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- When New York's Elmira Reformatory opened in 1876, it rejected 19th century penology's holy trinity of silence, obedience and labor. Elmira's goal would be reform of the convict, and its methods would be psychological rather than physical. Instead of coercing with the lash, Elmira would encourage with rewards.
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The Elmira system classified and separated various types of prisoners, gave them individualized treatment emphasizing vocational training and industrial employment, used indeterminate sentences, rewarded good behaviour, and paroled inmates under supervision.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Elmira Reformatory in upstate New York offered the most successful program of approaches since the eighteenth-century origins of American correctional education. Zebulon Reed Brockway, who established the Elmira prison program, served in prison reform for fifty years.
Elmira's goal would be reform of the convict, and its methods would be psychological rather than physical. Instead of coercing with the lash, Elmira would encourage with rewards. Mass regimentation would yield to classification and individualized treatment.
Still, the Elmira system was influential in prison reform. Two central ideas emerged from the Elmira system: differentiating between juvenile and adult offenders; and acknowledging the possibility of prisoner rehabilitation.
This reform was to be obtained through individualized treatment aimed at physical, intellectual, industrial, and moral training. Elmira was the first correctional institution of its kind in the country where the term of confinement depended upon the observable progress made by the prisoner.
Elmira's goal would be reform of the convict, and its methods would be psychological rather than physical. Instead of coercing with the lash, Elmira would encourage with rewards. Mass regimentation would yield to classification and individualized treatment.
Zebulon Brockway presented a paper based on the Irish system, which dealt with the idea of an indeterminate sentence and the possibilities of a system of parole. The prison reformers meeting in Cincinnati urged New York to adopt Brockway’s proposal at Elmira.
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