There are numerous ways in which we can evaluate changes in human use of corrections from ancient Greece to the present day. Jim Finckenauer, a professor at the Rutgers School of Criminal Justice, shared his observations on how the United States' history is best explained as a failed panacea, saying that correctional programs promised far more "crime control" than they could deliver ( Bryne & Brewster 1993). In the 1960s and 1970s, the United States believed that the use of treatments (therapy/conditioning) could reduce the increasing number of crimes. The method of correction instead of imprisonment were institutional and community-based rehabilitation programs, used and evaluated to see how they handled criminals during those times. It turned out that these programs were not as effective as the government would have liked them to be. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Lawmakers at the time decided that instead of focusing on rehabilitation methods for correction, policies needed to be shifted to further support a punitive aspect ( Bryne & Brewster 1993). One of the greatest upheavals in US corrections history occurred in the 1970s, when the “War” on drugs began at the hands of President Richard Nixon. He was coined for getting Congress to declare drug abuse “public enemy number one.” During this period people were arrested, tried, and convicted in much higher numbers than at any other time in the history of corrections. The results were increases in prison and prison residents, correctional crowding, and correctional budgets by the end of the decade (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1993). These types of correctional methods are very different from what punishment was like in late antiquity. Instead of indefinite containment, ancient prisons served as holding cells where prisoners could remain until the end of their sentences; the cells were used very differently. Individuals in power intended these prisons to serve as rest homes for those awaiting trial, or for offenders destined to die (Olsen 2008). Not only was the purpose of prison different than it is today, but there were also major differences in how prisoners felt while spending time locked up. Christianity was seen as one of the ways prisoners could gain seclusion, reflect, and grow spiritually (Olsen 2008). In prisons we spent time reflecting and looking within; those who practiced the religion believed it was a good place to prepare for the transition into the afterlife (death). However, not all prisoners felt this way about being locked up. Most reflections throughout the story recall the horrible living conditions. There are several memories in the philosopher's writings that recall unsatisfactory conditions. Compared to today's prisons, living conditions have improved, from a health point of view, as has what is consumed on a daily basis. Reflecting on colonial times during the eighteenth century, punishment and crimes were the great differentiator during this period. There has been a significant increase in the number of crimes classified as capital crimes. The types of crimes marked as capital crimes, however, were not as serious as a century later in England. England was experiencing between two hundred and fifty and three hundred crimes listed as capital; Corporal punishment considered “lighter”.