The American justice system has existed since America’s early British colonial days. Originally, correctional facilities were used to keep homeless individuals off the streets and to hold the accused awaiting trial (Bryan et al. 2015). Over time, the purpose of correctional institutions has shifted to fit the needs of the public. The prison system has cycled through two major purposes; rehabilitation and punishment. The first shift came from William Penn, who felt that correctional facilities should be more rehabilitative. This led to prisons coming to be segregated by gender and the implementation of labor and reflection (Bryan et al. 2015). Then, in the late 1960’s early 1970’s, the purpose of prisons shifted to meet the needs of the public. During this time, it was believed that rehabilitative practices were ineffective (Harmon 2015). Politicians labeled this era as the “War on Crime”, which led to the passage of laws that focused on punishment (Lattimore 2022). However, corrections have since cycled back to being more rehabilitative. In 1994, there were more policies being put in place for the rehabilitation of offenders in place of prior punitive practices (Lattimore 2022). The timeline below shows how reform and policies have affected the American prison system.