Whips to Walls

During World War I the U.S. Navy conducted what many penal scholars consider the most ambitious experiment in the history of Progressive Era prison reform at the Portsmouth Naval Prison in New Hampshire. Cell doors remained open, prisoners governed themselves, and thousands of rehabilitated inmates returned to the fleet. This humanitarian experiment stood in stark contrast to the tradition of flogging that dominated naval discipline until 1850. The Navy's journey between these two extremes included the development of a much-needed naval prison system. >