A graduate student at California’s Stanford University, Saree Kayne studies social anthropology and anticipates earning her PhD by 2017. Her doctoral thesis concentrates on the International Olympic Committee and how its culture informs the Games themselves. Prior to enrolling in Stanford’s doctoral program, Saree Kayne wrote her Master’s thesis on women in the penal system after collaborating with prison reform groups.

2.  A graduate student at California’s Stanford
University, Saree Kayne studies social
anthropology and anticipates earning her
PhD by 2017. Her doctoral thesis
concentrates on the International Olympic
Committee and how its culture informs the
Games themselves. Prior to enrolling in
Stanford’s doctoral program, Saree Kayne
wrote her Master’s thesis on women in the
penal system after collaborating with prison
reform groups.

3.  Calls for prison reform have been raised
throughout history. The Bible mentions prisons
and prisoners numerous times. Subsequently,
the history of modern-day prison reform
includes many movements started by people
of faith. When the American colonies were first
being settled, criminal justice was cruel and
barbaric. People were sentenced to death for
crimes that are considered minor today, such
as petty theft. The Quakers, perhaps drawing
on their own experiences as prisoners of faith at
their denomination’s founding, were at the
forefront of the movement to reform prisons.

4.  William Penn, noted Quaker and founder of
the Pennsylvania Colony, instituted his “Holy
Experiment” in the 1680s, abolishing the
death penalty for all crimes except pre-meditated
murder. Likewise, he eliminated
the practice of charging prisoners for their
meals and other basic services. Conditions
remained harsh, though, and a movement
began in 1787 to confront and overcome
the brutal treatment and unsanitary
conditions endemic in prisons of the time.

5.  It took many years, but in 1829, the
movement led to the construction of the
Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia.
Heavily influenced by the Quakers, the
prison was dedicated not to punishment,
but to rehabilitation. Noteworthy among
the penitentiary’s features was the severe
limitation of prisoners’ interactions. The
prison also provided central heating,
running water, and flush toilets.

6.  Modern prison reform movements in the U.S.
address a host of problems, including the
violent environment, health and safety
issues, education, religious freedom,
exploitation of inmate labor, and inmates’
preparation for their return to society,
among others. In addition, some activists
are working to end a new phenomenon in
the American penal system; the privately-operated,
for-profit prison.