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Dorathea Dix's Experience In Asylums And Prisons In The 1800s

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Caged. Chained. Tortured. These three words describe what prisons had to experience in Asylums and Prisons in the 1800s. The prisoners experienced horrible treatment and had to endure so much pain and agony like forced heavy labor, the electric chair, and sometimes even execution. Due to these inhumane conditions of asylums and prisons, reform was needed in the 1800s.
Prisoners were treated with inhumane conditions and were treated very poorly, they had to suffer in these unhealthy conditions in prisons and asylums. The prisoners were kept in tiny cells and given nothing to do but lose their minds if kept there long enough. They were chained and caged regularly in cellars and closets that left bruises and marks on their bodies. The conditions were often described and unhealthy, unsanitary, and overcrowded. Inmates were often left naked and physically abused and left in horror. The inhumane conditions usually lead to inmates death, attempted suicide or becoming physically and mentally ill. …show more content…

Dorathea Dix is one leader that started to make progress in the changes in the prisons creating the reforms. She started to teach Sunday school at a jail leading to more advancements in prison reforms and by encouraging others to join the movement in doing so. Dorothea saw how they were treating the mentally ill as if they were nothing more than animals, she saw what they would do to them. Her and other reformers believed that the mentally ill should get treatment to help them and not

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Dorothea Dix Dorothea Dix was a girl who grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts to Joseph and Mary Dix. Dorothea Dix was most famous for her reforms in the prison system and upgrades in mental health facilities. These improvements altered women's rights and U.S. jurisdiction forever. Dorothea Dix also developed medical needs for patients throughout the U.S. This boosted health in asylums and prisons.

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This prison was also one of the first to have a hospital which was pretty advanced for its time and also a library. Instead of trying to just beat down all the prisoners the superintendent wanted to guide them into a better life. They even got taught to read and write and speak spanish and german. The prison would also let the prisoners make things which they could sell once a month and any money they made would be kept in the prison until they were let out and given to them to let them have kind of a fresh start. They really just wanted to give the prisoners get hope and get better.

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They were harsh, however, people still believed that they were a lenient comparison to the other prisons. Some rules that the prison had were that the prisoners must have good hygiene, most prisons don't usually care about what happens to the prisoners, (atlasobscura.com). They were not allowed to gamble or have playing cards in their possessions. They were also expected to obey the rules and keep their cells clean. If they didn’t do these then they were punished, (Yuma Historical Society).

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In Greenbank she was exposed to York Retreat which was an asylum for mentally ill people; there the ill were put on diets, worked out, worked in useful ways, and were treated kindly and received appropriate care. Dix was fascinated and inspired by what she seen, leading her to push for justice and change at Cambridge jail, on her visit to educate the women on religion, after seeing firsthand the abuse and horrific treatment of the mentally ill chained and whipped because they were not like everyone else in society. So she set out to inspect the conditions in every asylum and jail where ill people were kept, to make sure they were cared for properly, and if they were not she would make a case so that someone

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The differences in living conditions between the Northern and Southern prison camps during the Civil War were vast. In the North, the prison camps were usually better equipped and maintained, with enough shelter, food, and medical care provided to the prisoners. On the other hand, the Southern prison camps are notorious for their horrid conditions. The overcrowding, lack of sanitation, and inadequate provisions led to lots of suffering and high mortality rates among the prisoners. According to Prisoners of Civil War: Treatment in the Hands of Captors, “Though it can be assumed that all Civil War prisons were quite unpleasant, the atrociousness of most other prisons pales in comparison to that of the Confederate camp in Andersonville, Georgia”

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Despite this, Goldenson has claimed Dix as “the most effective advocate of humanitarian reform in American mental institutions during the nineteenth century”. Similarly, Kovach has stated that "there are few cases in history where a social movement of such proportions can be attributed to the work of a single individual” due to her relentless and persisting efforts in improving the lives of the mentally ill. Consequently, Dorothea Dix played a significant role in improving the lives of the mentally ill in spite of being unable to improve and change certain aspects within the asylum movement.

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Dorothea Dix once said, "in a world where there is so much to be done, I felt strongly impressed that there must be something for me to do." In the 19th century, when Dorothea Dix was born and lived during, many changes were occurring in the United States. The War of 1812, then the Mexican-American War, and the Civil War all occurred during Dorothea Dix's lifetime, which likely had a large impact on her outlook on the United States and her visions for her own future. Dorothea Dix was a powerful, passionate woman, who change the world through her work in insane asylums and through her work as the head of nurses in the Civil War. Dorothea Dix's ancestry shows much of the woman she later became in her life.

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Dorothea quickly realized the horrible treatment the prisoners received especially those with mental illness whose cells had no heat. She quickly went to court and soon assured to provide heat for the prisoners along with other improvements. Dorothea founded more than 30 hospitals for the mentally ill.(Bio.com.) She changed the idea that mentally ill people cannot be helped or cured to that with treatment their mental state will become normal. She also was a committed critic of cruel and neglectful practices toward the mentally ill such as caging, incarceration without clothing, physical and sexual abuse from their keepers, and painful physical restraint such as chains.(Biography

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“…her changes are still being felt today with the way mental patients are treated. This one woman accomplished much for humanity within her lifespan.” Dorothea Dix was a great woman activist in history who fought for a great cause. Her fight for Prison reform and the fair treatment of the mentally ill is a great achievement because of the impact it has left on modern day Legal System. She felt the need to bring this topic of Prison Reform to light because of the neglect it faced.

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Gavi Kamen November 23, 2015 Dorothea Dix was born in Hampden, Maine in 1802 and became a social reformer whose devotion to the welfare of the mentally ill led to universal reforms. Her father Joseph was a Methodist preacher who was prone to depression and alcoholism and her mother suffered from crippling periods of depression. After teaching for many years, Dorthea took a job teaching inmates in an East Cambridge prison, where she was inspired by the dreadful conditions and the inhumane treatment of prisoners to spend the next 40 years lobbying U.S. and Canadian legislators to establish state hospitals for the mentally ill. Her efforts directly affected the building of 32 institutions in the United States. Dorothea began teaching

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Before the reform, punishments for crimes were harsh and unfair. Crimes as small as stealing a rabbit, being sneaky in the dark, and cutting down a tree could get someone sent to Australia, branded, whipped, put in the stocks, or even sentenced to death, no matter their age or gender. Prisons were meant to be places where criminals were put for short periods of time, usually until their trial or until they paid their taxes or loans. However, over time, people started saying that the death sentence was highly unethical and not good for children, who would watch these public executions, and started petitioning for a change. Prisons started being built with the intent of reforming prisoners by keeping them isolated and doing physical labor, giving them more time to reflect on themselves.

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First you hate them, then you get used to them. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on them. That 's institutionalized.’ A prison should aim at retribution, incapacitation, deterrence and rehabilitation. I am very well convinced that prison has served its first three purposes by depriving offenders’ freedom, but the

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Poor living conditions in prisons emerged because judges were inclined to send more people to prison than the space that was provided. Therefore, prisons became over crowed and hard to handle. Living spaces in prisons got smaller and more prisoners has to share their place with someone else. Security at the prisons also fell downhill, as male guards saw the women and young children as prey for rape. Most prisoners were either brutally assaulted and/or rape while in

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The guards began teasing them and making them “sing” their numbers and assigning punishments as needed, such as pushups and jumping jacks. The guards took role almost all day everyday. The prisoners, tired from being woken up, broke out into a rebellion on just the second day. They put their bed springs against their cell doors the guards used force to get the prisoners back in their place. They threw prisoners in the pit for hours at a time, denying them food, water, and social contact.

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Prisoners had to work had in the Heat, chained together and weren’t clothed properly. Henry Vincent was very dangerous. He would of beaten prisoners with his cat 'o nine tails and also kicked them. Vincent got clips and ripped out a prisoners beard. He was caught again beating a prisoner to death with a set of keys.

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