Vaux,] 656 [June 20, 
the construction of that prison and. its crowded condition, being the only 
penitentiary used for all the convicts of the State, leave but slender hopes 
of the accomplishment of the humane intentions of the Legislature. 
Your memorialists believe that they discover in the recent measures of 
the Commonwealth, a promise which will fulfill the designs of benevo- 
lence in this respect. The edifice now in progress at Pittsburg for the 
reception of prisoners, constructed upon a plan adapted to strict solitary 
confinement, will go far towards accomplishing this great purpose ; and 
your memorialists are induced to hope that the same enlightened policy 
which dictated the erection of a State prison in the western, will provide 
for the establishment of a similar one in the eastern part of the State. 
Reasons of the most serious and substantial nature might be urged to 
show the absolute necessity which exists for « penitentiary in the city and 
county of Philadelphia, whether we regard the security of society or the 
restoration of the offenders against its laws. It will not be necessary here 
to recite the alarming proofs which might be adduced in support of their 
opinions, but refer to the documents herewith furnished, which exhibit 
the actual condition of the prison, Your memorialists, therefore, respect- 
fully request that you will be pleased to take the subject under your seri- 
ous consideration, and if you judge it right, to pass a law for the erection 
of a penitentiary for the Eastern District of the State, in which the benefits 
of solitude and hard labor may be fairly and effectually proved. 
Signed by order and on belialf of the Society. 
WILLIAM WHITE, President. 
WILLIAM ROGERS, Vice: President. 
THOMAS WISTAR, Vice-President. 
NICHOLAS COLLIN, 
SAMUEL POWEL GRIFFITHS, 
JOSEPH REED, 
ROBERTS VAUX. 
Attest: Canmp Cresson, Secretary. 
This agitation of the reform in both the penal laws and system of 
convict punishment, though originating and developed in Philadelphia, 
extended to the western part of the State. On the 8d of March, 
1818, the Legislature authorized the erection in the county of Allegheny, 
of a State penitentiary on the ‘solitary’? plan, and in 1820 it was in the 
course of completion. 
The non-association of prisoners being the primary object of the friends 
of the movement at its inception, and the congregation of all ages, sexes, 
“and degrees of criminality being the gross evil sought to be abolished, it 
was necessary to suggest a method of incarceration which was in radical 
antagonism to the existing abuse. More intent in the trial of the proposi- 
tion than in designating it by any special term, the word solitary seemed 
almost unconsciously to assert itself as the descriptive name of the re- 
formed system. It was not in any sense the technical definition, and it 
» 
ponamenpemnarageen ba 
