Question

Which educator wanted to reform prisons and provide for the mentally ill?

1) Harriet Tubman
2) Harriet Beecher Stowe
3) Lucretia Mott
4) Dorothea Dix

Answer 1

Dorothea Dix was the educator who sought to reform prisons and improve conditions and treatment for the mentally ill, ultimately leading to the creation of state mental asylums.

Step-by-step explanation:

The educator who wanted to reform prisons and provide for the mentally ill was Dorothea Dix. In the spring of 1841, Dorothea Dix visited a Cambridge jail, where she discovered inmates, including those who were mentally ill, living in horrific conditions. Shocked by what she saw, she initiated a campaign to improve these conditions and advocated for the creation of state mental asylums. Over a thirty-year period, Dix's efforts resulted in the establishment of thirty-two mental hospitals in the United States and other countries. Her work not only addressed the treatment of the mentally ill but also contributed to broader prison reform.