penitentiary

… In America, imprisonment had been advocated as an alternative to the harsh punishments of England since the time of the Quaker William Penn (1644-1718), but around 1720, an attempt was made in Pennsylvania to implement strict solitary confinement, aiming at improvement through dialogue with God in a solitary confinement cell. After independence, imprisonment with hard labor was replaced by the death penalty, and the Walnut Street Jail, which opened in 1773, began to incarcerate serious criminals in 1789, and the following year, with the addition of more cells for serious criminals, it became known as a penitentiary. In other states, imprisonment was also replaced by the death penalty, but the increase in the number of inmates made the existing local jails insufficient, and state prisons were built one after another from the 18th to the 19th century. …

*Some terminology explanations that mention "penitentiary" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…　アメリカでは，クエーカー教徒ウィリアム･ペン(1644‐1718)の昔から，本国イギリスの苛酷な刑罰にかわるものとして拘禁刑が主張されていたが，1720年ごろペンシルベニア州で，独房でもっぱら神との対話による改善を目指す厳正独居の試みが始まった。独立後，重労働を伴う拘禁刑が死刑にかえられることとなり，73年開設のウォルナット街ジェイルは，89年から重罪囚の拘禁を始め，翌年の重罪者用居房の増設もあって，懲治監penitentiaryとして知られるようになった。他の諸州でも自由刑が死刑に代わったが，収容者の増加により従来の地方監獄jailでは不十分となり，18世紀から19世紀にかけて州立刑務所prisonの建設が相次いだ。…

※「penitentiary」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報