Or should I say a banner Banner Lecture? The author gave us tidbits from his research about the notorious Virginia Penitentiary which was originally conceived by Thomas Jefferson and built overlooking the James River in what eventually would become downtown Richmond. Prior to this construction, which took over 20 years for Jefferson to get approved by the Virginia General Assembly, there were jails and there were the stocks and there was execution, but the idea of long term incarceration was not part of the nature of punishment in the colonies or the United States.The original building had no heating, plumbing and only bars over the windows. When it was finally torn down in the early 1990’s it was still a barbaric structure.
