Final answer:
The New York System utilized the congregate system in the 19th century, where inmates had solitary confinement at night and worked together in silence during the day. This was part of prison reform efforts to rehabilitate criminals into law-abiding citizens. The criminal justice system's treatment of inmates remains a controversial topic.
Step-by-step explanation:
The New York System used the congregate system, which was a nineteenth-century penitentiary system. Within this system, inmates were kept in separate cells at night to reflect and repent in solitude, but came together to work during the day, adhering to a strict code of enforced silence.
This approach was a part of the broader reform of prisons during that period. Reformers believed that through hard work, religious instruction, and the structure provided by such institutions, criminals and even debtors, could be redeemed and transformed into law-abiding citizens.
The debate over the treatment of inmates in the criminal justice system, including the use of the death penalty and the sentencing of minors to life in prison, continues to this day, illustrating the ongoing controversy about whether our system is too lenient or too harsh, and whether it does enough to rehabilitate inmates for reentry into society.