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42 Prison J. 5 (1962)

handle is hein.journals/prsjrnl42 and id is 1 raw text is: 










          CITIZEN CONCERN AND ACTION
                      OVER 175 YEARS
                        NEGLEYN  K. Ttii  TERs

       Should  the plan take place dourig my life, of establishing a
    pIermnanent charity tinder some such title as that at Philadelphia,
    viz: A Society for alleviating the miseries of Public Prisons, and
    annuitics be etigrafted thereupon, for the above nientionti purpose,
    I would most readily stand at the bottoni of a page for five hundred
    PIiiolus; or if such society shall be instituted within three years
    ller mlly death, this stim shall he paid out of my estate.

S )wROTE   the  distinguished  philanthropist, reformer  and  prison
   Xisitor, John Howard, on hearing  of the organization of the prison
'ociety in Philadelphin ini 1787. ' Hlowards writings and activities were
ellknown,  to  Phittladelphia prison reformers, especially through cor-
eCsponldence with  their  counterparts  in  England.  We   know,   for
ntance   that D)r. Benjamin Rush, who  might  well be designated god-
lathetr of tle Philadelphia reform society, had an exchange of letters
  ith Dr. John Coakley Lettsom  regarding Howard's  visit to prisons in
  I urkey ind other Mediterranean countries. 2 There can be no  doubt
  tht i)spiration to organize a prison reform society derived from John
  oWard and his work.
    I'li bldelph ia in Nlay 1787 was an extremely exciting place. It was
    ItliS vcry time that delegates were assembling to hammer  out the
 >nstitut ion of the new nation. The city was a thriving metropolis of
 ar)   forty thousand   persons, well stipplied with  stores, markets,
 15spapers, hospitals and  colleges-with  all the necessities that cn-
 liuilte to the development of a sophisticated, progressive community.
    In this thriving city At this time a group of gentlemen assembled
 Nlay   8, in the home  of Isaac Parrish, hatter, in Mulberry Court  3
     agreed  to associate themselves in a society to be entituled [sie]
     lohiladelphia society for all ialing the miseries of public prisons'.
     Sllitdred(j years the reform society maintained its quaint title but
     I  at its centennial, the name was  changed  to the Pennsylvania
   n   N'oriely by whic  it is known today--at this, its 175th anniver-
     Tha from  that May  day of 1787 down   to the present, the organi-
       has been  steadily and actively interested and engaged  in  the
 otIVx. Notires of fir Orig(ial and Succsswiv Efforts   to Improve the
      I liC of /le Prisonl at Philadelphia, and to reformi the criminal code of
      0-anIia;- with  a  few  obserationls  onl the  Penlitentiary' Sylstem, I'hli  iciph ia,

         il ftie Society, October 8, 1787
    St  wtest sidc of Sixth Street between High (Market) and Mulberry (Arch)

                                  5


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