[1][2][3][4][5] This book explores the ideas used to justify imprisoning people as punishment in the early United States.

He traces how ideas about prisons transition from being discussed in theory to becoming physical buildings and implemented systems.

It was believed that workhouses reduce crime and poverty by teaching new skills to people who were incarcerated.

This approach suggested that if punishments were consistent and not based on the death penalty, crime could be controlled by the state.

This philanthropic[6] belief held that prisons could not only retrain people, but actually change their entire personality and character.