Most people's ideas of prison are based on the Hollywood stereotype of large multi-tiered cellblocks and prisoners engaged in various recreational events. While this aspect of prison life still exists in some areas, most prisons of this type are gone, converted or on their way out. Their replacements are unique to the U.S. and they absolutely require that the public take notice.

In the 1800s, Eastern State Prison was built by the Quakers in Pennsylvania. It was famous for its many new designs and its treatment of prisoners being housed there. This prison was labyrinth-like and prisoners entering this fortress were actually blindfolded and spun around so as to disorient them to their surroundings. It contained single occupant cells intended to isolate each inmate from the others with the intention to force them to contemplate their crimes against society. Unfortunately, this method of treatment caused many inmates to literally lose their minds. Charles Dickens, who once toured this facility, commented that it was an inhumane and barbaric way to treat fellow citizens. This type of prison was short-lived and replaced by the type of buildings we are so used to seeing today: massive structures housing hundreds of inmates.

For the next century prisons remained more or less unchanged, with the notable entry of prison road gangs, excavation projects employing inmates, ranches, farms, and other self-sustaining labor-intensive chores. Prisoners were no longer kept isolated in cells, because it was discovered that they were an expendable, ever-ready labor force. Prison administrators, along with help from private firms, put inmates to work making everything from license plates to furniture to clothing and many other consumer goods.

During the mid-1900s attitudes regarding prisoners and their treatment changed dramatically. Prison administrators were forced by public opinion to alter the way prisoners were housed, fed, clothed, and worked. A "kinder, gentler" prison environment was born and the power the administration had over the lives of the inmates was not only reduced, but observed by outside agencies. Inmates were given some basic rights: visitation, phonecalls, mail privileges, and pay for work done (albeit at a greatly reduced wage). Honor systems were set up to acknowledge good behavior from inmates and rewards were given. Some of these rewards included: 8 hour furloughs, conjugal visits, food packages sent in by family, vocational courses, and collegiate level courses were offered. The mental and physical health of inmates was given a higher priority. The idea that criminal behavior was learned and could therefore be unlearned was accepted.

This new style of prison management was widely accepted and practiced until the 1980s, at which point public and political opinion underwent a dramatic change. Much of the change in opinion can be attributed to the increase in crime rates, the lower ages of convicted criminals, and the rising age of middle America. The voting public, in a desperate attempt to stop the problem, began to lobby their representatives to enact tougher crime laws and mandatory sentencing guidelines. The fallout from these new procedures was unknown, but since something had to be done, the laws were passed.

In the final years of the century, all the hard-won programs that educated and rehabilitated prisoners were systematically stripped away. Each time a program was removed from a prison facility there was always a local politician close by to lay claim to victory. Inmates saw dozens of self-help and rehabilitative program killed off in the name of "tough on crime" legislation and a headline.

The administrators devised a new way to deal with inmates that led from the vocational classroom to the factory. The public-sell of these new programs was easy, the prison merely claimed that they were providing inmates with training both in the classroom and on the job. Behind the scenes vast enterprises were set up involving the labor of thousands of inmates. Prisoners were put to work in programs that allowed the prison to "hire out" inmates to commercial companies. Inmates were given minimum wage to work in such fields as recycling, farming, and manufacturing. This went over well with the public, who was told that inmates were now contributing to society by paying taxes while learning to become productive citizens.

The truth behind this fallacy is that inmates working on this type of job are only receiving 40% of their wages. The other 60% is garnished from their wages and funneled into programs like victim's compensation, room and board, and various other slush funds. After all the deductions are made, the remainder is held in an account run by the same prison administration that put them into this program in the first place. Typically the jobs offered to inmates are of a type most Americans would consider beneath them due to the low wage/task difficulty relationship.

Inmates are required to report to work every day and most holidays, which by itself isn't such a bad thing. But consider that they are not paid for overtime or working holidays, nor do they receive any type of sick leave or annual paid vacations as with most free-world jobs. They can't complain about poor working conditions because there is no one to complain to. This workplace scenario has big businesses waiting in line for their turn at this mute work force.

Even with all of these negative factors, the inmates that work on these crews consider themselves lucky, and why not? They are living in a situation where they have no other option if they desire the chance to save a nest egg for their eventual release. This one solitary positive far outweighs all the negatives for the prisoners. They will do whatever it takes to ensure that they have a fighting chance upon release.

The housing conditions in most modern prisons are a combination of new and old theory. I mentioned the opening of Eastern State prison earlier because this is the trend in new prison construction. These new prisons are built using the same design philosophy, except the name that made it into the 21st Century is "compartmentalization management." By keeping the entire population in a state of lock-down for 22 hours a day, the prison saves on staffing costs, utilities, etc. With the exception of meals and work or the thrice-weekly recreational period, inmates are stationary the entire day.

After being confined to a small cell with another person for day upon day, year upon year, a person would be willing to do anything to get out and breathe fresh air. Even to the point of going to work in a dehumanizing industry for low wages. It makes one wonder if the real motivation behind this new management style isn't anything more than a reason to get cheap, consistent labor.

The decay of the American prison system is far from being over. Turn on the TV news and you'll likely hear one of the talking heads inciting more public fear by separating "us" and "them." As long as Americans are willing to continue to pour money into the construction of more and more prisons rather than begin educating the convicted, this cycle will persist. As long as we are willing to disregard the 1.2 million American citizens already incarcerated, there will be no end.

At some point we need to move our focus back to the underlying cause or we are destined to continually throw money to the effects. In almost two centuries we seemed to have learned nothing about the closure of Eastern State Prison, except perhaps that it is economically sound to house inmates in nearly total isolation, letting them out only to eat...and to work in our industries.