Auburn State Prison
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What is Auburn State Prison?
Auburn State Prison, located in Auburn, New York, opened in 1816. It established a disciplinary and administrative system that relied on silence, corporal punishment, and group labor. The prison's architecture and routine became a model for prisons throughout the United States.
The Auburn system, which evolved at Auburn Prison during the 1820s, was a penal method where individuals worked during the day and were kept in solitary confinement at night, with enforced silence at all times. Innovations at Auburn included the lockstep, striped suit, extensions of the walls between cells, and special seating arrangements during meals, all of which were designed to maintain strict silence.
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Where is Auburn State Prison located?
Auburn State Prison is located in the city of Auburn, New York, in the United States. Opened in 1816, it is historically significant for pioneering a disciplinary system based on silence and group labor, which served as a model for other prisons throughout the United States.
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When was Auburn State Prison built?
Located in Auburn, New York, Auburn State Prison opened in 1816. It established a disciplinary and administrative system that was based on silence, corporal punishment, and group labor. Auburn's architecture and routine became the model for prisons throughout the United States.
In the early 19th century, many believed that industrialization and dramatic demographic, economic, and political upheavals had conspired against traditional controls. From their perspective these moral guardians could no longer adequately control disorder, and they viewed crime as a product of social chaos. Their solution was to create a structured environment in which deviants could be separated from the disorder of society.
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What is the Auburn System that was created at this prison?
The Auburn system, which originated at Auburn State Prison in Auburn, New York, in the 1820s, was a 19th-century penal method based on enforced silence at all times. Inmates worked during the day in congregate workshops and were kept in solitary confinement at night. The goal of this system was to separate the convicted persons from the disorder of society and prevent them from influencing one another.
Innovations at Auburn included the lockstep, striped suits, wall extensions between cells, and specific seating at meals, all designed to maintain silence. Although the silence system eventually became unenforceable due to overcrowding, Auburn's model was inexpensive to construct and maintain, and it remained the standard for nearly a century.
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Why is Auburn State Prison important in the history of American prisons?
Auburn State Prison, which opened in Auburn, New York, in 1816, is significant in American prison history for establishing a disciplinary and administrative approach that relied on silence, physical punishment, and group labor. Auburn's architectural design and procedures served as a template for prisons across the United States. The "Auburn system" called for inmates to work during the day and be confined to their cells in silence at night. Most state prisons in the United States eventually adopted this pattern of tiny inside cellblocks.
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How has Auburn State Prison influenced prison design and rules in other parts of the world?
Auburn State Prison, which opened in 1816, significantly influenced prison design and rules, becoming a model for prisons throughout the United States. Its administrative system, based on silence, corporal punishment, and group labor, aimed to reform offenders through a structured environment.
Auburn's design featured a unique five-tiered cell block with small inside cells, which was later adopted by most state prisons in the U.S.. While inmates labored in congregate workshops, strict silence was enforced to prevent corruption, with a quasi-military routine governing all activities. Although overcrowding eventually made the silence system unenforceable, Auburn's model remained influential for nearly a century due to its cost-effectiveness.
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Auburn State Prison, prison located in Auburn, New York. Opened in 1816, it established a disciplinary and administrative system based on silence, corporal punishment, and “congregate” (group) labour. In architecture and routine, Auburn became the model for prisons throughout the United States.
In the early 19th century, many Americans believed that industrialization and dramatic demographic, economic, and political upheavals had “conspired” against the traditional controls of family, church, and community. From their perspective these moral guardians could no longer adequately control disorder. They saw crime as the product of social chaos. Necessary to its eradication was a structured environment in which deviants could be separated from the disorder of society and the contagion of one another. Their solution was to create the “penitentiary”—a new institution for “reforming” offenders and, ultimately, restoring social stability.
Auburn originally used congregate cells, but in 1821 Warden William Brittin borrowed the concept of solitary cells from the so-called Pennsylvania system. Brittin designed a unique five-tiered cell-block of two rows of single cells, placed back to back in the centre of the building. Cells measured only 3.5 feet (1.06 metres) wide, 7.5 feet (2.3 metres) long, and 7 feet (2.1 metres) high; doors faced outer walls lined with grated windows that provided indirect light and air. This pattern of small inside cellblocks was later adopted by most state prisons in the United States. Whereas the Pennsylvania system’s inmates did handicraft work in their cells, Auburn prisoners laboured in congregate workshops, offsetting imprisonment costs by fulfilling private-industry contracts. A hidden passageway with small openings surrounded the work area, allowing inspectors and visitors to surreptitiously monitor the inmates. A uburn briefly (1821–25) implemented a three-level classification system. Under it, minor offenders laboured in workshops during the day and retired to separate cells at night; serious offenders alternated their days between solitary confinement and congregate work. The most-hardened criminals were placed in solitary confinement without work. After numerous suicides, instances of mental illness, and attempted escapes, the governor of New York terminated the classification system and the experiment in solitary confinement.
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Subsequently, all male inmates worked in congregate shops by day, returning to individual cells at night. (Females, first committed to Auburn in 1825, were relegated to an attic and excluded from regular work and exercise.) To ensure that inmates did not corrupt one another, Brittin’s successor, Elma Lynds, enforced a quasi-military routine of absolute silence, strict discipline, and economic productivity. In response to bells, head-shaven inmates dressed in striped clothing silently marched in lockstep formation to and from their cells for meals and work assignments. Letters were banned, and the chaplain was the only occasional visitor. Flogging and other forms of corporal punishment enforced the rules. Such regimentation was thought necessary to restrain the rebellious nature of the offenders.
Eventually, overcrowding made the silence system unenforceable, and Auburn’s system of discipline deteriorated into corrupt and lax routines of harsh punishment. After the Civil War, the spirit of reform withered, and contract labour was no longer profitable. Despite the demise of the “ideal” system, Auburn remained the model for nearly a century, primarily because it had been inexpensive to construct and maintain.