Over time, California’s missions came to resemble a mass incarceration system in general and penal servitude in particular. This article will describe that process by examining changing policies of recruitment, spatial confinement, regimentation, surveillance, physical restraint, and corporal punishment as well as California Indian resistance. With the help of secular government authorities, Franciscans and their military allies established the system between 1769 and 1790 before deploying more overtly carceral practices between 1790 and 1836. In its conclusion, this article explores the meaning of California’s missions as carceral spaces before suggesting new avenues of research on the history of incarceration within and beyond California.
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Research Article|
February 01 2019
California’s First Mass Incarceration System: Franciscan Missions, California Indians, and Penal Servitude, 1769–1836
Benjamin Madley
Benjamin Madley
The author teaches in the history department and American Indian studies program at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is currently a fellow at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study.
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Pacific Historical Review (2019) 88 (1): 14–47.
Citation
Benjamin Madley; California’s First Mass Incarceration System: Franciscan Missions, California Indians, and Penal Servitude, 1769–1836. Pacific Historical Review 1 February 2019; 88 (1): 14–47. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/phr.2019.88.1.14
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