Robert Wilson McClaughry (July 22, 1839 – November 9, 1920) was an early leader in modern penal reform and the warden of several major penitentiaries including the

United States Penitentiary The Federal Bureau of Prisons classifies prisons into seven categories: * United States penitentiaries * Federal correctional institutions * Private correctional institutions * Federal prison camps * Administrative facilities * Federal correctio ...

Leavenworth, Kansas Leavenworth () is the county seat and largest city of Leavenworth County, Kansas, United States and is part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 37,351. It is located on the west bank of t ...

. He was one of the early advocates of remedial instead of purely retributive treatment, and was closely associated with noted prison reformers such as Z. R. Brockway, of New York; General Brinkerhoff, of Ohio, and the two Dr. Wines, of Illinois. He was also

General Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department The following is a list of heads of the Chicago Police Department. Currently the executive of the Chicago Police Department is referred to as a "Superintendent of Police". Preceding titles included High Constable, City Marshall, General Superint ...

from 1891 to 1893.

Biography

Born on July 22, 1839, at Fountain Green, Hancock county, Illinois of Scotch-Irish ancestry, he attended public schools near his father's farm. He graduated with honors from Monmouth College in Illinois in 1860. He worked for a year as a professor of

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

at Monmouth College, then as the proprietor of the Carthage Republican newspaper and then enlisted in the 118th Illinois Volunteer Infantry where he became the Captain of Company B. In 1862 he was mustered as

Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

and participated in the expedition to

Vicksburg Vicksburg most commonly refers to: * Vicksburg, Mississippi, a city in western Mississippi, United States * The Vicksburg Campaign, an American Civil War campaign * The Siege of Vicksburg, an American Civil War battle Vicksburg is also the name of ...

. He mustered out as Paymaster in October 1865. He campaigned for the re-election of U.S. President

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

before starting his life's work as a warden and penal reformer. In August 1874, he was appointed warden of the

Illinois State Penitentiary Stateville Correctional Center (SCC) is a maximum security state prison for men in Crest Hill, Illinois, United States, near Chicago. It is a part of the Illinois Department of Corrections. History Opened in 1925, Stateville was built to ac ...

at Joliet. Fourteen years later he was invited to open and organize the Pennsylvania Industrial Reformatory at Huntington. In August 1893, he was made Superintendent of the Illinois State Reformatory at Pontiac followed by a return to Joliet as warden there in March 1897. On July 1, 1899, U.S. President

William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in ...

personally solicited him to be warden of the United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth,

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

where he served until June 30, 1913. He was a pioneer "in creating reliable identification records systems and was ready to implement and evaluate new techniques as they became available. McClaughry was the first person to introduce Bertillonage into the United States in 1887… and he persuaded the Warden's Association of the United States and Canada to adopt the system in the same year." A

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

, McClaughry died in Chicago on November 9, 1920. His body was transferred to Monmouth, Illinois for interment where services were held by The Rev. Dr.

Thomas Hanna McMichael Thomas Hanna McMichael (July 7, 1863 – June 23, 1938) was the fourth president of Monmouth College of Illinois and was significant in elevating the stature of that college to national prominence. He was also elected Moderator of the Presbyteria ...

, President of Monmouth College, on Nov. 20, 1920.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McClaughry, Robert Wilson 1839 births 1920 deaths Monmouth College alumni American Presbyterians American newspaper publishers (people) American prison wardens General Superintendents of the Chicago Police Department