PRISON. — The Romans called carcer the place of custody for those condemned to the death penalty or corporal punishment; and, both among them and almost all ancient peoples, the prison did not have the character of a penalty as a place of isolation and detention for a fixed period. Above all, it served to ensure the presence of the accused at trial.
Prisons were filthy places where the guilty or accused, regardless of sex or age, were thrown together indiscriminately. After the advent of Christianity, greater consideration was shown to the prisoner.
Traces of more humane treatment of prisoners are found in the time of Constantine (320); yet even in later periods the horror persisted of dark, unhealthy dungeons, chains, and afflictions of every kind.
The idea that the prison should become a true place of expiation for a fixed term developed in later centuries. Certain forms of atrocity, partly linked to the short duration of detention, were abandoned, and increasing efforts were made to render the prison, as a place of expiation, more humane.
In this process of transformation in the concept and practice of imprisonment, the Church has exerted a constant influence, advocating at various times and places clemency and mercy. Following the words of Jesus (Mt 25:36), it included among the works of mercy that of visiting prisoners; and its millennia-long history is rich in documents testifying to its constant concern for those struck by human justice, instilling in their souls faith and hope in divine goodness and justice. In the lives of many saints, heroic episodes of assistance to prisoners are recorded.
When, around the 16th–17th centuries, the detention system became more widespread—also because the political turmoil advised sparing human lives by often commuting death sentences to harsh imprisonment—Pope Innocent X (Pamphili) in 1647 had a large building constructed in Rome to house prisoners transferred from the dreadful prisons of Corte Savella, later demolished, and Torre di Nona. The construction was completed in 1655 under Alexander VII (Chigi). At that time, a true revolution in the prison system occurred, and an absolute novelty in construction was the detention house. It was called the “New Prison” (Carcere Novo); it had spacious, healthy, well-lit rooms, and even latrines that drained into a well-organized sewer system.
In the building now houses the criminal museum, and there is an inscription from that time affixed to it:
“To justice and clemency — for safer and better custody of prisoners — Innocent X, Supreme Pontiff, erected this new prison — in the Year of Our Lord 1655.”
From then on, attempts began here and there to make imprisonment a means of rehabilitation through work, and in many countries so-called hard labor prisons were organized. Prisons for solitary confinement arose in many European cities modeled on the “New Prison.” Yet the idea of the humanization of punishment, which would bring about such a profound upheaval in the modern age—especially after the appearance of Cesare Beccaria’s *On Crimes and Punishments*—was still far off.
Decisively contributing to the victory over the brutality of prisons was John Howard, born in Hackney in 1726, who established norms for nighttime segregation, work, and prison sanitation. After him, a significant improvement occurred, culminating in modern times with the integration of the concept of liberty into various penal systems. It is said, especially in American countries, that the prison should be a place that deprives the citizen of the freedom to move at will, so that the value of freedom may be better appreciated. According to these systems, the prison should not add to the punishment of deprivation of liberty other afflictions that degrade or physically and morally destroy the person.
Sanford Bates, General Director of American Prisons, expressed it thus: “The prison of tomorrow should be at once a disciplinary school for those who may be redeemed, a place of permanent segregation for the incorrigible, and a laboratory for the study of the causes of delinquency.”
Detention in these modern prisons also includes penal correctives, which are: a) probation, especially used in the United States, which allows the convicted to live in society; b) parole, a kind of supervised release, allowing the prisoner to leave prison on parole after serving part of the sentence; c) conditional sentence, by which the individual may obtain suspension of the effects of the conviction.
Among scholars of criminal and penitentiary law, two tendencies can be discerned: one favoring the afflictive nature of punishment, and the other the concept of rehabilitation. The Constitution of the Italian Republic has adopted the principle that punishment must also be rehabilitative; hence, penal codes and prison regulations must be revised accordingly.
Currently, Italy operates a system based on the 1930 penal reform, characterized by: a) a set of norms aimed at reforming the convict without removing from punishment its afflictive and deterrent character; b) a certain specialization of institutions in relation to the needs of prison life; c) organization of labor with criteria of continuity and productivity.
Moreover, patronage councils and the fine fund have been established, with the hope that these two institutions will complement the reformative work of the prison and at the same time provide post-release assistance.
In reforming the prison system, codes and laws must be updated to meet the increasingly pressing needs of social defense on the one hand and the humanization of prisons on the other.
Even in modern nations, the Church has always worked to secure the right to provide religious assistance in prisons. For example, Article 28 of the Concordat of July 20, 1932, between the Holy See and the German Reich states: “In hospitals, penitentiaries, and other institutions maintained by public bodies, the Church shall be permitted to provide for the spiritual needs of souls and to perform religious functions.”
In France, Italy, and other countries, organizations linking prison chaplains are of particular importance; and in Italy, a general inspectorate of chaplains is about to be established within the Ministry of Justice. This will give a completely new form to religious assistance in Italian prevention and penal institutions (this being the official designation of prisons in Italy).
There are also many bodies and associations that concern themselves with the moral or material assistance of prisoners (cf. PENITENTIARY).