In the early twentieth century, the brutality of southern prisons became a national scandal.
Inside prisons, however, the transition to penitentiary cells only made the endemi.
Texas presented the reforms to the public as modern, efficient, and disciplined.
This system persisted until the 1940s when, led by Texas, southern states adopted northern prison design reforms.
Prisoners toiled in grueling, violent conditions while housed in crude dormitories on what were effectively slave plantations.
In the early twentieth century, the brutality of southern prisons became a national scandal