Engaging the Trope of Redemptive Suffering: Inmate Voices in the Antebellum Prison Debates

Abstract

An 1842 American Sunday-School Union pamphlet presented the ideal prisoner. According to the text, Jack Hodges—a convicted murderer serving a twenty-one-year sentence at New York's Auburn Prison—admitted his guilt, displayed proper penitence, reformed his behavior, and expressed thanks for his prison experience. The Reverend Anson Eddy, who had interviewed Hodges in 1826, regaled readers with stories of Hodges's modest upbringing and descent into lawlessness. He detailed Hodges's crime, trial, and death sentence, which was later commuted to life imprisonment. According to Eddy, Hodges encountered upstanding prison staff and a kind chaplain at Auburn. In his solitary cell, the inmate read his Bible, which helped lead him from sin to grace. Not only did Hodges experience personal salvation, the prisoner committed himself to evangelizing others. Eddy's pamphlet is full of quotations attributed to Hodges, including the inmate's claim that "I loved [Auburn]. I loved the prison, for there I first met Jesus."