Penitentiaries, Reformatories, and Chain Gangs - by M Colvin (Paperback)

About the Book

Mark Colvin tackles the subject of penal change in America by examining three case studies from the nineteenth century that represent shifts in the interpretation of punishment.

Book Synopsis

The very definition of punishment in America has been subject to a variety of changes, and has served as the basis for much debate over the course of America's history. In Penitentiaries, Reformatories, Chain Gangs, Mark Colvin tackles the subject of penal change in America by examining three case studies which represent shifts in the interpretation of punishment specifically during the nineteenth century: the rise of penitentiaries in the Northeast; the changes in the treatment of women offenders in the North; and the transformation of punishment in the South after the Civil War. Colvin uses these case studies to apply four theoretical explanations of penal change, shedding light on both the history of penal authority and the current state of the system today. An engrossing and highly relevant volume, Penitentiaries, Reformatories, Chain Gangs is a comprehensive investigation of punishment and its meaning past and present.

Review Quotes

"In its attempt to delineate the ways that prisons have been shaped by broad social factors, the book has a truly worthy and appropriate purpose." --"The Journal of American History"

." . . a readable, concise history of punishment and penal institutions in the 19th-century United States." --"American Historical Review"


“In its attempt to delineate the ways that prisons have been shaped by broad social factors, the book has a truly worthy and appropriate purpose.” —"The Journal of American History"
“. . . a readable, concise history of punishment and penal institutions in the 19th-century United States.” —"American Historical Review"


" In its attempt to delineate the ways that prisons have been shaped by broad social factors, the book has a truly worthy and appropriate purpose." -- "The Journal of American History"
" . . . a readable, concise history of punishment and penal institutions in the 19th-century United States." -- "American Historical Review"

About the Author

Mark Colvin is Associate Professor of Sociology at George Mason University.