Yeah. It's an interesting place to visit. I also believe that originally a "penitentiary" referred to a prison where prisoners were held in solitary confinement

Yeah. It's an interesting place to visit. I also believe that originally a "penitentiary" referred to a prison where prisoners were held in solitary confinement, with the goal of reform, or 'penance.' But we should remember that solitary confinement is almost universally worse than other forms of punishment, in terms of the mental toll it takes upon the inmate. The Wikipedia page is a good place to start: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solitary_confinement#Historical_controversy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solitary_confinement#Historica...