why did the united states begin opening prisons
History of United States prison systems Starting in the 1820s, a new institution, the "penitentiary", gradually became the focal point of criminal justice in the United States.[104] At the same time, other novel institutions—the asylum and the almshouse—redefined care for the mentally ill and the poor.[105] For its proponents, the penitentiary was an ambitious program whose external appearance, internal arrangements, and daily routine would counteract the disorder and immorality thought to be breeding crime in American society.[104] Although its adoption was haphazard at first, and marked by political strife—especially in the South—the penitentiary became an established institution in the United States by the end of the 1830s.[106]