Lesson: A Global and Historical Context for the U.S. Prison System

Source: Philadelphia World Heritage Tool Kit 

Created by: Ryan Nase, Tacony Academy Charter School

Subjects: Government, Economics

Grade Levels: 9-12

View or download this Lesson Plan.

Overview: Through time, governmental systems have created numerous ways to handle offenders. Many times, community officials incarcerate these individuals or otherwise remove them from society. Society has differing beliefs regarding the proper treatment, confinement, and punishment for crimes. Because this lesson invites comparisons and contrasts across three different settings (Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, historical convict institutions in Australia, and Ocean County New Jersey Jail), students will be able to see a global and historical context for various prison settings in the United States. Teachers usually cover the United States criminal justice system in Government and Economics classes, so this lesson will assist teachers in this topic. In addition, students will have the opportunity to consider several current controversies over treatment of offenders in correctional facilities (such as the “school to prison pipeline” idea), as well as to see a concrete example of current separation of powers between the federal and state governments, and application of funding streams to these operations.

Objectives: Using primary and secondary sources, students will compare and contrast the Quaker ideals used at Eastern State Penitentiary to the Australian convict system and practices from a similar time period (late 18th through the late 19th centuries). They may also investigate other convict systems that operated in the United States during this era. Students will move on to study 21st century prisons in the United States. To show their abilities to make comparisons and contrasts, students may create several Venn diagrams. Students will also use primary and secondary sources from magazines and the Pennsylvania and New Jersey state tax websites, the students will examine how the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey bring in money and the resources made available from those funds in order to justify 2 points supporting or opposing government spending in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Using their Venn diagrams and notes from the previous day. the students will complete a “perfect paragraph,” justifying at least 3 changes that could be made that would enhance the current penal systems in these two states.

The Philadelphia World Heritage Tool Kit

This lesson is one of 29 lessons (K-12, all subjects) in the Philadelphia World Heritage Tool Kit. The goal of the Tool Kit is to help educators and their students develop a transnational analysis in their classrooms by using complex themes of world heritage as a framework to understand global regions across disciplines. These themes include shared architectural, cultural, economic, environmental, political, recreational, religious, and social heritage features.  Real teachers created these lessons and based their work on “best practices” that reflect student collaboration and the broad goals of young people in ways that support care and understanding of others who may be very different in background and history.