ABSTRACT
This chapter follows the birth, demise, and rebirth of rehabilitation in the Western world. Beginning in the 17th century, readers are introduced to the religious Quaker philosophy that isolation and reflection can facilitate change, even among deviant individuals, thus ushering in the first penitentiaries and the practice of solitary confinement. Over time, the rehabilitative potential of the human spirit was accepted by policy makers and prison administrators alike, leading to an expansion of prison programming, including vocational training, education, and incentivization, all driven by the expectation that reformation was possible. These different ideas and practices culminated at the Elmira Reformatory, a prison-turned-laboratory led by Superintendent Zebulon Brockway. Brockway unrolled a variety of rehabilitative programs, some successful, some abusive, before his experimental days came to a less-than-honorable end. Despite his questionable tactics, Brockway’s influence continued, providing fodder for a growing rehabilitative movement that gripped the Western world for half a century, before ending abruptly when a series of empirical studies suggested that rehabilitation was a futile endeavor. The rehabilitation movement receded, remaining out of the spotlight until the 1990s, when it was revived by a new wave of reformers.
