How Did Charles Dickens Characterize The Prison System

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During Charles Dickens tour of the United States in 1842, he visited Eastern State Penitentiary. The Penitentiary is located in Philadelphia and it can still be visited today. Dickens notes mainly focused on the effects of solitary confinement. Overall, Dickens thought the prison system in the United States was cruel and inhumane. Interviews of a few prisoners further proved Dicken’s statements of the effects of solitary confinement. Dickens had mixed feelings about the American’s prison system, but after the tour they were all settled. One of the major problems with society at the time was that the prisons currently in use were not big enough nor fitted for the general population. After an extensive evaluation of the prison system in Philadelphia,