worked in shops together during the day, but were locked in individual cells at night. The
objectives of the system were punishment and reformation by strict discipline, work, and
confinement. It was the first system to become self-supporting. The Auburn System is significant
because it became the foundation of the modern penal system.
14. The Pennsylvania and Auburn Systems weren't without controversy. Chief adversaries were
the Boston Prison Discipline Society and the Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of
Public Prisons, both of which disparaged the Auburn System and championed the Pennsylvania
System. Nevertheless, the Auburn System prevailed in America with all states except Pennsylvania
adopting it. The Pennsylvania System, however, remained attractive to many and was successfully
exported to Europe where it was embraced and remains the basis for many of today's European
systems.
15. New systems emerge.
a. Captain Alexander Maconochie 1787-1860, eliminated the old flat-time sentence and
introduced sentence commutation through a combination of good behavior and industry. He
started the Mark System--marks charged against individuals who redeemed them by good
conduct, labor, and study.
b. Richard Whately popularized the indeterminate (or indefinite) sentence, 1787-1863.
c. The French publicist, Mr. Bonneville de Mar Rangy, first advocated the Parole System in
1846. At the time, this was viewed as a compromise between an absolute pardon and the
execution of the entire sentence.
16. The Mark System, Parole System, and indeterminate sentence were combined to form the
famous Irish System. In 1854, Sir Walter Crafton became director of Irish convict prisons. He
attracted the attention of penal authorities throughout the world. His intermediate prison was a
process of promotion of prisoners, from stage to stage, depending upon their accumulation of marks
or credits. Features of this system endure today in the process of prisoner custody grade
classification.
17. The Irish System gave rise to the Reformatory System concept in America. This was the
beginning of a new era. Overcrowding, which had become evident in the late 1860s, necessitated
additional construction. These new institutions became known as reformatories.
18. The Elmira Reformatory was created in 1876 at Elmira, New York. This institution was
limited to prisoners between age 16 and 30 who had been convicted for the first time. The term of
incarceration depended upon the progress of the prisoner. The system stressed reformation rather
than serving the sentence until expirations were graded and classified according to their conduct.
Military music was played and regimentation was stressed. Religious training for moral
development was also stressed. The Reformatory System was based on the philosophy that
prisoners expected and needed strict discipline and some sort of trade. Thus, we find the basis for
rehabilitative training, which endures to this day. Although it appeared to be an enlightened system,
the Reformatory System has serious defects:
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