2015-№4(49) Article 6

S.A. Vassilyeva

Quakers’ ideology and the formation of the Philadelphia prison system. P. 64-74.

UDC 973.03

The paper focuses on the religious background of Philadelphia penal system, which originated in Pennsylvania State in the late 18th – early 19th centuries. North American states were pioneers for penitentiary reforms. Some elements of the US progressive prison system were borrowed by European countries in the 19th century.
The paper underlines that Pennsylvania State had a special status of a colony founded by Quakers, representatives of the protestant Christian denomination. Many scholars believe that Pennsylvania penal system was formed under the influence of Quakers’ criminal law. The author of the article treats the formation of Philadelphia penal system as an attempt at integration of humanistic ideas spawned by European penology, theological beliefs of early Quakers and legal traditions of a former British colony.
The American Revolution caused qualitative changes in all spheres of American life, including changes in the correctional system. In 1787 Philadelphia Quakers founded a private society for helping prisoners. A prison was for the first time understood as an institution aimed at reforming prisoners by improving their morality and mental health. Members of the society managed to convince the State Assembly of the necessity to establish prisons where inmates have individual cells. Such prison system was labeled Philadelphia, or Pennsylvania prison system. Quakers were the first to treat correctional system as a means of prisoner rehabilitation through religion and education.
The article is based on works that have never been translated into Russian.

Philadelphia prison system, history of correctional system, US penal reforms, Quakers, Religious Society of Friends

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