Andersonville was the worst prison during the civil war. The prisoners were forced to live in the worst conditions, with disease killing most of them because there wasn’t medicine that they could take to fight off the illness. There were many dangers facing the prisoners in the prison like raiders and thieves. However, the flag displayed in the prison helped these men in hopeless times, acting as inspiration and giving them hope. Prisons now have been reformed to make them better for the prisoners. Andersonville lead on to many prison reforms around the United States. Andersonville prison was a prison during the Civil War used as a Confederate prison. There is a single bridge connecting the prison to the mainland. “Belle Isle was a secure …show more content…
This had a big impact on the reason why there were prison reforms. The first problem that arose when the number of prisoners increased was the fact that there were not enough tents for all of the prisoners. Since there were not enough tents many of the prisoners were “crammed into the Sibley well beyond their twelve- person capacity”(Gourley 15). The capacity of the tents were about twelve men and the generals crammed more than the limit into each tent. Each prisoner did not have enough space and this was a reason the death count was so high because people were dying while they sleep, this is why now many prisons provide beds and cells for the prisons to sleep in. The reason that the camp did not have enough tents for all of the prisoners was because “approximately 400 more arrived each day. By the end of June, 26,000 men were penned in an area originally meant for only 10,000 prisoners” (Civil War Trust). Since the soldiers were entering the prison so fast, then prison guards did not have time to expand the prison because every day four hundred people were entering the prison and the population grew to fast for everyone to keep up with. The camp also did not have enough food for all of the prisoners so to overcome this problem the food rations were made to be extremely small. So when the number of prisoners increased everyone, including the Confederacy were not getting enough and “Even the army's horses were suffering” (Gourley 19). So no animals or people were eating enough food because the camp had to many prisoners so there wasn’t enough food to go around between all of the prisoners. Also the prisoner were “regularly chained” (Center for Prison Reforms). Sometimes they were chained in a closet and they were left there for a long period of time without food and water. If a prisoner was mentally ill, they were “held in the general population with no treatments available to them.” (Center for Prison Reforms).
(pg. 113) For them, food was equivalent to freedom. They fought aggressively like animals for a crumb of bread. It was unfair that prisoners were given a bit of soup or a slice of bread and shot at for being outside on sight .
Chapter 1 is the Power to impress. It talks about how some people were all for the prison that was trying to be built, but then there were people higher up in the governmental chain that had a feeling that it would cause trouble and havoc down the road. Most of the men that were against it were higher up in the government and were preventing it by not giving the prison their support or money. This chapter of the book gave an in-depth look at how the prison’s start was not an easy 1,2,3 type of start. The author goes through and includes the names of people that were important in the making or breaking of Andersonville Prison.
Andersonville was built in April of 1864 . The Confederacy made Andersonville to hold captured Union soldiers because of better security and more supplied food. Andersonville is known as the South’s largest confederate military prison . The prison , after 14 months , had confined 45,000 soldiers with 400 more coming each day. Out of those 45,000 soldiers , 13,000 died from disease , poor living conditions , starvation , overcrowding , or exposure to harsh weather conditions.
This website covers the issue of prison overpopulation. This issue affects prisons all across the country. The first feature the website provides a list of each of the fifty states. Choosing a state will take you to a page that provides the number of incarcerated prisoners currently being held and the total cost to run the prison per day. The website also has a section that has articles explaining why prison overcrowding is a problem.
Short Paper After the Civil War, the South lost and slave owners were forced to emancipate slaves. However, the white southerners tried to remain the antebellum order as much as they could. Therefore, many slave owners wanted their former slaves to come back by paying wages.
World War ll: Camp Atlanta It may surprise you that during World War ll (WWll), here in America, we also had Prisoner of War (POW) camps. What might be even more surprising is that there were even a few here in the state of Nebraska. There were many POW camps in Nebraska, but who would have guessed there would be a camp in Atlanta, Nebraska, a little town of one hundred thirty-one people. The thousands of prisoners held in Nebraska, the design of the Camp Atlanta, and last but not least, what the conditions were like inside the camp are three of the main points to discuss.
The Hellhole of Andersonville Andersonville, or Camp Sumter, stands out as the worst of the prisoner-of-war camps on either side in the American Civil War. The pressures on the South during the American Civil War created an environment in Andersonville that resulted in a large number of deaths. Prisoners were decimated by disease, dehydration, starvation, overpopulation, and execution during the fourteen months of Andersonville’s existence. It was one of the largest camps during the Civil War holding 45,000 or more prisoners.
Culture, Physical, and Geographical surroundings play a big role in Frederick Douglass. The first example of surroundings in Frederick Douglass is the culture. Most slaves grow up not knowing when their birthdays are, the time, or even the date. “The white children could tell their ages.
Almost 400 camps were built for prisoners of war in the South, the Great Plains and in the Midwest; ironically, while the prisoner camps were filling up across the country, America was struggling with acute labor shortage (“Prisoners of war”).
The placement of so many people into prisons for general, popular, frequent non-violent crimes has lead to such an extravagant number of people inside the walls used to punish people of horrific
Lucky prisoners would find food lying around the camps or they would have people in their workplaces sneak them food. At night, prisoners would be given bread and a small piece of meat or cheese. The bread they were given was supposed to last them all night until the morning, so people would try to hide them in their beds, while they were asleep. The small rations were just meant to keep the prisoners alive so they weren’t completely starving. Many thousands of prisoners died from starvation or the illnesses caused by the lack of nutrition.
According to Portland State University, “Approximately one in 35 U.S. adults are incarcerated, on parole or on probation”. B) According to Penal Reform International, “In most prison systems, prisoners do not have the minimum space requirements recommended by international standards, spending up to 23 hours of the day, if not all day, in overcrowded cells. Overcrowding can be so severe that prisoners sleep in shifts, on top of each other, share beds or tie themselves to window bars so that they can sleep while standing”. Transition to Second Main Point: Now that we have defined what prison overcrowding is, let’s identify common causes.
Does it make sense to lock up 2.4 million people on any given day, giving the U.S the highest incarceration rate in the world. More people are going to jail, this implies that people are taken to prison everyday for many facilities and many go for no reason. People go to jail and get treated the worst way as possible. This is a reason why the prison system needs to be changed. Inmates need to be treated better.
However, the death penalty reduces overcrowding, provides closure for victim’s family, and is true justice. Capital punishment can deal with overpopulated prisons in the United States. Prison overcrowding is one of the contributing factors to poor prison conditions. Its consequences can prevent prisons from fulfilling their functions as well (penalreform.org). For example, it can increase sickness among the inmates and prison guards.
The worst part of the prison had to be the Dark Cell. The dark Cell was used as a punishment for the prisoners that would disobey orders or just cause trouble. Depending on what the prisoners did determines how long they stay in the dark cell. Many have stayed for days, weeks, and even months. The dark cell was very narrow you can not stand up straight in there because of how narrow it is.