The Deviant Prison
Philadelphia's Eastern State Penitentiary and the Origins of America's Modern Penal System, 1829–1913

A compelling examination of the highly criticized use of long-term solitary confinement in Philadelphia's Eastern State Penitentiary during the nineteenth century.

Ashley T. Rubin (Author)

9781108718882, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 3 November 2022

412 pages
22.8 x 15.1 x 2.3 cm, 0.61 kg

'… Rubin's account is immersive and rich in detail, making it well-worth reading for scholars of punishment as well as sociologists of organizations, occupations, and work. I personally admire it as a model for doing archival research and successfully blending historical and social science methods.' Sarah Shannon, Social Forces

Early nineteenth-century American prisons followed one of two dominant models: the Auburn system, in which prisoners performed factory-style labor by day and were placed in solitary confinement at night, and the Pennsylvania system, where prisoners faced 24-hour solitary confinement for the duration of their sentences. By the close of the Civil War, the majority of prisons in the United States had adopted the Auburn system - the only exception was Philadelphia's Eastern State Penitentiary, making it the subject of much criticism and a fascinating outlier. Using the Eastern State Penitentiary as a case study, The Deviant Prison brings to light anxieties and other challenges of nineteenth-century prison administration that helped embed our prison system as we know it today. Drawing on organizational theory and providing a rich account of prison life, the institution, and key actors, Ashley T. Rubin examines why Eastern's administrators clung to what was increasingly viewed as an outdated and inhuman model of prison - and what their commitment tells us about penal reform in an era when prisons were still new and carefully scrutinized.

Introduction
Part I. Becoming the Deviant Prison: Establishing the Conditions for Personal Institutionalization: 1. Faith and Failure: Experimenting with Solitary Confinement in America's Early State Prisons
2. Born of Conflict: the Struggle to Authorize the Pennsylvania System
3. Uncertainty and Discretion: the Contours of Control at Eastern State Penitentiary
4. Criticism and Doubt: the Pennsylvania System and the Social Construction of Penal Norms
Part II. The Advantage of Difference: the Process of Institutionalization: 5. Neutralizing the Calumnious Myths: Administrators' Public Defense of the Pennsylvania System
6. Combatting the Pains of Deviance: Organizational Defense as Self-defense
7. Strategic Manipulations: Acceptable and Unacceptable Violations of the Pennsylvania System
8. Turning a Blind Eye: Reputation and the Limits of Administrative Commitment
Part III. Forced to Adapt: the Conditions for and Process of Deinstitutionalization: 9. An Alternative Status: Administrators' Transition from Gentleman Reformers to Professional Penologists
10. Fading Away: National Obscurity, Catastrophic Overcrowding, and the Individual Treatment System
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Legal history [LAZ], Crime & criminology [JKV], History of the Americas [HBJK], History [HB], Humanities [H]