Separate System (jan 1, 1830 – jan 1, 1870)

Description:

Prisoners were kept in individual cells, making the system very expensive. They worked and they prayed, and they only left their cells for exercise and for church. They couldn't communicate with anyone else and were often hooded or wore masks.

In some prisons, the warders, jailers and other prisoners wouldn't know who had committed what crime, so that the 'criminal community' was broken.

Under this system, many prisoners went mad or committed suicide.

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