Prisons weren’t always part of justice. ⚖️ For most of history, punishments were public — whipping, branding, even exile. The first “true” prison as we know it began in 1790 with the Walnut Street Jail in Philadelphia. What started as a place for reflection slowly turned into something else… a business. 💰 By the 1800s, inmates were used as cheap labor. By the 20th century, prisons had become billion-dollar industries. So now we have to ask: are prisons really about rehabilitation, or are they j