Publisher's Synopsis
When it opened, the state reformatory embodied a new way of dealing with criminals - rehabilitation rather than punishment for first-time offenders. The concept grew out of a nationwide prison-reform movement starting after the Civil War and peaking in the early twentieth century. Reformers argued that prisoners could become law-abiding citizens if given the chance to redeem themselves through hard work, education, and good behavior. Here at Wisconsin's reformatory, prisoners attended classes to learn building trades, and they built the structures that ultimately housed them.
