Kris Brown's Exploration 7

A cultural theme that I wanted to learn more about was about prisons during the Great Depression. As it turns out, incarceration rates during the years of 1925 to 1939 nearly doubled. The cause for this increased rate was the incarceration of more blacks and less whites during this time period. Prison communites began to form convict social structures, and became governed by a convict code which clashed with many institution's official rules and regulations. U.S. prisons had already existed for about 100 years at this time, and many had not underwent any change. During this time period, prisoner's experienced the shift to reduce them to bare essential's needed for life. They also had considerably less private property. A prison labor system soon emerged. The Hawes-Cooper Act was enacted by Congress in 1929 that allowed for the transportation and sale of products made by prisoners in one state to another state. This only became effective around 1934, but many legal issues concerning borders stood in the way. Eventually in 1940, the transportation of prison goods was shut down. Many prisoners were relied on for their labor that was used to reduce prison costs.

Today, prisoners have more luxury than the elderly and the homeless. They are not assigned jobs, are given neccessities such as cigarrettes, and are allowed time to watch television. Prison is a much more pleasant place than it used to be. Prison's should definitely revert back to the way they used to be, with the exception of being provided with the securities and technology of modern times.



Incarcerated convicts spend their days in their cells.