The Auburn system was put into use in 1816 and required constant silence.

The Pennsylvania system was put into use in 1829 at the Eastern State Penitentiary on Cherry Hill and enforced strict solitary confinement.

The Auburn System:

The Pennsylvania System:

The PSAMPP:

The Woman's Prison Association:

Key Events:

Public reaction to the treatment of prison inmates resulted in the 1787 formation of the Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons, the first of any such reform group in the world. In 1790, the Society persuaded the state legislature to create an act in which prisons were to be reformed, a solitary confinement prison was to be built and the Walnut Street Jail became the first prison in Philadelphia.

The Women's Prison Association began as the female department of the Prison Association of New York in 1845. This organization desired separate women's prison quarters and to reform female convicts through religious observance and domestic training. They hoped this would lead to jobs for the women such as housekeepers, nannies, and seamstresses. This department became the WPA in 1853, removing itself from PANY. Accomplishments of this organization consist of passing legislation, advocating for the children of imprisoned mothers, and programs that support families being brought together again.