Prison Reform

Dorothea Dix played the biggest part in the prison reform.  She would go into jails to teach Sunday school to the prisoners.  She couldn't help but notice that these jails didn't have good conditions, but most importantly she noticed that they had mentally insane people locked up.  She immediately stood up for her beliefs and took action.  Dorothea Dix wrote letters and sent them to the legislatures of the state to bring this problem to their attention.  In a letter Dorothea wrote to a legislature she says "I proceed, gentlemen, briefly to call your attention to the present state of insane persons confined within this Commonwealth, in cages, closets, cellars, stalls, pens! Chained, naked, beaten with rods, and lashed into obedience."  This shows that she really cared about this topic and she needed a change.  She fought long and hard for this change.   Her efforts were very successful and she made several institutions for the mentally insane across the country.




The author of this letter is Dorothea Dix and she led the prisons reform.  The others purpose of this article is to bring this problem to the eyes of legislation.  This source is very trustworthy because it is just a copy of the letter that Dorothea Dix wrote herself.  When Dorothea Dix taught Sunday school in the prisons she noticed that there were mentally insane people there and she had to take a stand.  That led to her writing this letter.  This teaches you how bad these prisons were and how much she really believed that this needed to be changed.  This letter is very descriptive and it gives you a full description of the event.  The author believes that this is a huge problem that needs to be resolved immediately.  The author is trying to convince the reader to make a change to the prisons as soon as possible and she stands by her beliefs.





Dix, Dorothea. “Memorial to the Legislature of Massachusetts On the Conditions of the Prisons.” Accessed January, 1843. http://www.teachushistory.org/second-great-awakening-age-reform/resources/memorial-legislature-massachusetts.