In the early Nineteenth century, Jacksonian Americans believed they
could cure, or at least contain, crime, mental illness and even poverty. The means
was the asylum, an institution developed by the state that would separate
criminals, the poor, the mentally ill, juvenile delinquents and orphans from
the larger society.

At its best, the asylum would mold these unfortunates into productive
citizens through work, routine and isolation. At its worst, it would become a
convenient but often cruel place to get rid of unwanted members of society.

The pro-asylum movement, described in wonderful detail in David J.
Rothman’s revised edition of the classic The Discovery of the Asylum,
may seem to have less resonance now in an age of prison exposés, closing of
state mental hospitals and shifting of children from orphanages to foster
families. Yet Rothman’s work is a fascinating glimpse into the origins of these
institutions. It reveals why American society turned to incarceration as a
solution to its social problems.

As Rothman notes in the 1990
introduction to his work, much of the early research on the history of the
asylum had assumed that the Jacksonian reforms were based on philanthropy.
Public torture and executions that had been traditional for hundreds of years
began to look like cruelty and bloodthirstiness; the English Bedlams that
chained the mentally ill to stakes and beat them like animals were no longer
acceptable; and local jails that contained debtors, prostitutes, the violent
mentally ill as well as criminals were full of “debauchery and disease.” The
spacious, comparatively clean and well-regulated asylums built in the early to
mid-Nineteenth century did, on the surface, look like an improvement on the
normal physical conditions of deviant and dependant members of society.

Yet later theories on the invention of the asylum proposed that fear had
as much an influence on reformers as philanthropy. Many citizens of the young
United States feared a moral disintegration in society. The family declined,
the church lost power and importance, and community ties loosened as the
country expanded. The perceived rise in criminality, poverty and mental illness,
Jacksonians thought, was proof of this social crisis.

This fear is a clue as to why incarceration, instead of other possible
solutions to these social problems, found such widespread support. The asylum
supplied something of a societal double-whammy: it would improve the conditions
of the dependant and deviant, and it would separate them from a society that
needed to be shielded from moral collapse.

Rothman maintains that the motives for inventing the asylum were
diverse, ranging from humanitarianism to the desire to inspire fear in
criminals. To get at the heart of these motives, Rothman first looks back at
Colonial America and the ways it coped with its less fortunate members. This
historical context helps reveal the revolutionary change in social attitudes
that arose in the early Republic.

The Discovery of the Asylum is at its best when it describes
the inventiveness of asylum architects, who had no real precedents to work
with. The book also gives interesting details about life inside the
institutions. Ideally, inmates were to be isolated, kept on a strict daily
schedule and forced to do productive work. But in reality, this proved
difficult to maintain. The inmates’ days became monotonous, the food bland, and
in some cases, disciplinary measures were harsh. The New York House of Refuge
in 1825 and 1826 put youths in leg irons for being quarrelsome whipped them for
wetting the bed or put them in a prison cell for repeated disobedience. (232)

The Discovery of the Asylum has long been a must-read for students
of criminal justice and American social history. But for general readers too,
it is a work that uncovers a unique chapter of American history that has
relevance to discussions on prison and mental hospital reforms today.

© 2003 Anika Scott-Klecker

Anika Scott-Kleckler is a U.S. journalist
and author living in Germany. A former Chicago Tribune staff writer, she now
freelances travel and lifestyle articles for publications and web sites in the
U.S. and Europe. She is also working on a nonfiction book about a famous music
manuscript that disappeared during World War II.

Categories: Philosophical