The individual, in order to become truly rehabilitated, deserves freedom and autonomy, a sense of purpose and a sense of self-control. Using research from contemporary newspaper articles dated between 1840-1940, critical theory such as Foucault’s "Discipline & Punish" and the works of sociologists of architecture like Carla Yanni, I take a look at the possibility of reforming the rehabilitative institution such that inmates/patients are viewed not as having wronged society but instead as having somehow been wronged by society. Reform movements surrounding a prison, Stateville Correctional Center, and a mental health treatment center, Elgin Insane Asylum, can be used as tools to critically analyze strengths and weaknesses, or possibly initiate an entire rethinking, of rehabilitative institutions in our age. In this essay, I explore turn of the 20th century reform movement histories of two containment institutions’ architecture, located just outside the city of Chicago.
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