Prison and Asylum Reform

One day in 1841, a Boston woman named Dorothea Dix agreed to teach Sunday school at a jail. What she witnessed that day changed her life forever. She was horrified to see that many inmates were bound in chains and locked in cages. Children accused of minor thefts were jailed with adult criminals. She wanted to find out if the conditions were this bad everywhere else.

To find out, she visited hunderds of jails and prisons throughout Massachusetts. She also visited debtors' prisons, or jails for people who owed money. Most of the thousands of Americans in debtors' prisons owed less than $20. While they were locked up, they could not earn money to repay their debts. As a result, they were imprisoned for years.