Dorothea Dix

Alexis de Tocqueville

She was completed by personal experience to join the movement for social reform. Dix was horrified to discover that jails often housed mentally ill people. In 1843 she sent a report of her findings to the Massachusetts legislature, who in turn passed a law aimed at improving conditions. Also between 1845 and 1852, Dix persuaded nine southern states to set up public hospitals for the mentally ill.

Was a French writer who visited the United States to study the penitentiary system. He then wrote about the awful conditions and unjustified actions and sparked a movement for change.

Major leaders in the Asylum/ Prison Reform