The Quakers believed that what a sinful man needed was time and solitude to pray, meditate and read the bible in order to repent and reform. It made perfect sense as they practice silence in their meetings in order to commune with God. What could be more wonderful than to have the time and place to be still and quiet? They built Eastern State Penitentiary in the early 1800s based on that idea and the inmantes there spent nearly their entire sentence in solitary confinement.
As most people now know, solitary confinement is a form of mental torture. Most do not end up practicing the presence of God; they end up battling their inner demons. And losing. Let's not add the fact that quite a few Victorian era criminal did not read.
I always think of this little story as a cautionary tale whenever we try to apply our theology.
After dissing the Quakers for their prisons, I should add that they believed the mentally ill (aka lunatics) should be treated with kindness and respect at a time when the insane were chained, beaten, humiliated and generally mal treated in crowded and filthy hospitals. The Quakers started building asylums that looked more like mansions set in beautiful countrysides. It was the best possible treatment in an era that predated Freud, psychiatric drugs and MRIs.
