What Kinds of People are in Prison?

Summary: In this lesson, you will look at primary sources from different time periods to investigate the people who have been incarcerated in Maine prisons.

Share whatever information from this introduction you feel will help provide context for your students before they investigate the primary sources.

Introduction

For as long as there have been laws in Maine, people have broken the laws. Today, some things are legal that used to be illegal. The opposite is true as well – laws change to keep up with modern life.

Just as laws change, so do punishments. If you’re caught breaking the law you might get a warning (like if you’re driving a little over the speed limit) or a fine (like if you’re caught littering). You might be assigned community service, meaning you work on a project to help others. Probation is when you are free but must follow certain rules. More serious crimes can result in incarceration, meaning imprisonment or captivity in a jail or prison.

Prisons and jails exist for a few reasons. They are a punishment for people who did something wrong. In some cases, they are supposed to help people gain new skills and priorities. At their most basic level, they are meant to keep people from doing harm to the rest of society. For as long as prisons have existed, people have debated how they should be run, and whether they are effective or humane.

Incarceration is complicated. For some people, it is a chance to turn their lives around. For other people, it damages them for the rest of their lives. It might also be a mixture of things. Another complication is that not everyone who is imprisoned should be. Many people throughout history have been wrongfully convicted, meaning they are innocent of the crime that put them in jail. However, prisons make many members of the public feel safe – especially victims of violent crime.

Throughout history, certain groups of people have been more likely to serve jail time. Laws, judges, juries, and police officers have persecuted people based on their race, class, or sexual orientation. Some of that has changed with time, but there are still inequalities today. In Maine, African Americans and Native Americans are more likely to be sent to prison than white people. The criminal justice system is not always fair, and people with more money and power can sometimes avoid punishments. There are many complicated reasons for this, and we encourage you to do some digging to learn more!

Prisons in Maine – Now and Then

Maine’s first state prison was founded in Thomaston in 1824. The Maine State Prison moved to Warren, Maine in 2002 to make room for the increasing numbers of people being incarcerated. Men and women were sent to the same prison until 1925, when the Women’s Correctional Center was built in Skowhegan.

Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, there were about 5000 people incarcerated in Maine and another 7000 under criminal justice supervision. In the past few decades there has been an increase in incarceration rates for women and people sentenced for drug-related offenses. The number of Mainers in jail increased 649% since 1970, and the number in prison increased 151% since 1983.

The juvenile justice system is for youth under age 18 that have committed crimes. The Boys’ Training Center was established in 1853 with the goal of reforming young men through work. Girls were held at a separate facility in Hallowell until 1976, when they were transferred to the Maine Youth Center. At that time, children and youth could be arrested and incarcerated for both crimes that apply to adults and things like skipping school and running away from home. This center was closed in 2002 after an Amnesty International letter-writing campaign and an outside review brought attention to the “prison-like culture” that returned children to their communities in worse condition than when they were admitted. Today (in 2021), the Maine Department of Corrections runs the Long Creek Youth Development Center.

The Lesson:

1. Present the introductory information above to your students to give them context for the lesson. Depending on the class, they could read the introduction as a homework assignment, or you could go over it together as a class.
2. Students choose (or the teacher assigns) one or more of the primary sources to work with.
3. Without first seeing the source label information, students practice their observation and analysis skills to complete an Analysis Worksheet for each one. They can make educated guesses using whatever information they find in the sources. Note – This can be completed as a class, individually, or in small groups.
4. Discuss the sources as a class. What source did you work with? What did you learn from it?What questions do you have? How do the different sources connect to the theme, or to each other?
5. Present the source label information (the “answers”) to the students. Were you surprised by anything you learned? Have you found more connections between the different sources?
6. Optional: use the recommended activity prompts and reflection questions for further discussion.

Optional Activity:

If you have not already, listen to Bobby Payzant’s radio show interview, which is Source 7 for this theme. Now, read this article about Bobby.

Article link (or download a pdf here):
https://archive.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2007/03/29/longtime_violent_criminal_gets_18_year_sentence/

As a class (or in a written assignment), discuss the following:

1. How would you describe Bobby Payzant if all you knew about him was what you read in this article?
2. Do you think about Bobby Payzant differently when you hear him talking?
3. Do you think the public is affected by the ways that the media talks about people in prison? If so, how?
4. Why do you think the newspaper chose this headline?

Reflection questions (for class discussion or written assignment):

• Has your definition of ‘prisoner’ changed after analyzing the sources in this lesson? If so, how?
• What are some common stereotypes about prisoners? What do you think allows these stereotypes to continue? What are some ideas for fighting these stereotypes?
• Do you think the way that prisoners are talked about makes it hard for them to go back into the community after they finish their time in jail? Why or why not?
• Do you think that everyone who commits a crime receives a fair punishment? Why or why not?
• Do you think people’s race, gender, age, or class can make them more or less likely to be sent to prison? What are some reasons why that happens?

Freedom & Captivity Primary Source Sets developed in collaboration between the Maine State Archives, Maine State Library, and Maine State Museum.