Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons
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Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons
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Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons
Prison Society of Philadelphia
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Prison Society of Philadelphia
Society, Established in Philadelphia, for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons
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Society, Established in Philadelphia, for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons
Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons
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Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons
Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons Philadelphia, Pa
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Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons Philadelphia, Pa
Philadelphia Society for Ameliorating the Miseries of Public Prisons
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Philadelphia Society for Ameliorating the Miseries of Public Prisons
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Exist Dates
Biographical History
After the peace of 1783, a group of prominent Philadelphia citizens led by Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Rush, and others organized a movement to reform the harsh penal code of 1718. The new law substituted public labor for the previous severe punishments. Reaction, however, against the public display of convicts on the streets of the city and the disgraceful conditions in the Walnut Street jail led to the formation in 1787 of the Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons (a name it retained for 100 years, at which time it became The Pennsylvania Prison Society), the first of such societies in the world. Members of the Society were appalled by what they learned about the new Walnut Street prison and the next year presented to the state legislature an account of their investigations of conditions and recommended solitary confinement at hard labor as a remedy and reformative strategy.
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External Related CPF
https://viaf.org/viaf/146013711
https://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n87913886
https://id.loc.gov/authorities/n87913886
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Languages Used
Subjects
Prison reformers
Prisons
Nationalities
Activities
Occupations
Legal Statuses
Places
Philadelphia (Pa.)
as recorded (not vetted)
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Convention Declarations
<conventionDeclaration><citation>VIAF</citation></conventionDeclaration>