Judging from the development history of human class society, prison is a common social phenomenon.
As a superstructure, prison is bound to be decisively influenced by the economic base.
At the same time, due to the influence of social, political, historical, cultural and legal factors, the prison phenomenon presents great differences.
Different social forms, different historical periods and different national conditions will produce different prison theories and prison systems.
(2) The time and process of the appearance of prisons in primitive society Before human beings entered the class society, people had to work together to survive because of the extremely low level of productivity, and the products of labor were evenly distributed. The means of production were publicly owned in primitive society.
At that time, there was no class, no oppression and exploitation between classes, no crime and no prison.
At the end of primitive society, due to the development of productive forces, social labor products appeared surplus, and these surplus labor products gradually became the private property occupied by clan leaders who held power.
Due to the development of productive forces, the family has become the basic labor organization unit of society, and the means of production have gradually changed from public ownership in primitive society to family ownership, and the products of labor have become the private property of the family.
The emergence of private ownership led to the gradual division of society into slave owners and slave classes.
Human society will also transition from primitive society to slave society and begin to enter the first class society.
With the emergence of class, the form of state organization appeared.
In order to maintain its own rule and suppress the resistance of the ruled class, the ruling class in charge of state power has formulated a series of rules and regulations, which are the embodiment of the will of the state. This is the law.
Criminals are regarded as crimes, and criminals should be punished, which leads to punishment and prison.
As an important part of the state machine, prison is the product and expression of irreconcilable class contradictions, which comes into being with the emergence of the state, reflects the will of the ruling class, and is a tool for the class that holds state power to rule.
Second, the evolution of prisons has a history of thousands of years.
The development of prisons adapts to the development of social production mode.
In the long history of human social development, there are prisons in slave countries, feudal countries, capitalist countries and socialist countries.
The main characteristics of ancient prisons are cruelty, barbarism and backwardness. The main punishments are life imprisonment and corporal punishment. Prison is a place for corporal punishment in disguised form, and it is difficult to talk about prison management system, let alone prison execution theory.
Generally speaking, modern prison theory and prison system began in18th century.
Beccaria, an Italian criminologist, put forward the principles of a legally prescribed punishment for a crime, adaptation of crime and punishment and humanization of punishment in On Crime and Punishment written in 1764, which greatly promoted the improvement of prisons.
The prison reform movement, which began in18th century, established a penalty system with free punishment as its core, among which the prison reform movement initiated by john howard, an Englishman, had the most far-reaching influence on later generations.
In order to seek prison improvement measures, john howard visited European prisons all over the world and investigated the disadvantages of prisons in various countries. 1777, he published Prison Situation in England and Wales (also known as Prison Affairs), and made a detailed and scientific discussion on prison architecture, correction purpose, correction means and reward and punishment measures.
Therefore, he is called the originator of the prison reform movement in western countries.
After human society entered the 20th century, the research on prison issues in various countries entered a new stage.
Prison execution theory and prison management system have developed rapidly again. The theory of educational punishment and reform punishment has always occupied a dominant position in the theory of prison execution. Prisons have gradually got rid of the image of barbarism, cruelty and disorder, and there has been a trend of socialization, legalization, humanization and technicalization of execution. While executing punishment, prisons will pay more attention to the education and reform of criminals, and prison management will develop in a more rational and civilized direction.
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