Dorothea Dix

Dorothea Dix was compelled to join prison reform by personal experience.
When she visited the Massachusetts house of correction she was upset to discover that jails often housed mentally ill people.
In 1843, She sent a report of her findings to the Massachusetts legislature, who passed a law improving conditions.
Between 1845-1852, Dix persuaded nine southern states to set up public hospitals for the mentally ill.
Dix and other prison reformers believed in he idea of rehabilitation which is treatment that might improve the sick or imprisoned people to a useful position in society.