What aspect of early prisons resembled early American jails?

The choice indicating that rooms instead of cells resembled early American jails accurately reflects the architectural and operational characteristics of early prisons. In the early stages of incarceration in America, facilities often featured large, communal spaces or rooms where multiple inmates were housed together rather than the individual cells commonly associated with modern prisons. This arrangement was typically influenced by the understanding and frameworks of punishment at that time, where confinement did not prioritize isolation as much as it did earlier European models.

The communal aspect allowed for more interaction among prisoners, which can be seen in early American jails, where the idea of reform and punishment started to evolve and where the focus was less on solitary confinement and more on the management of groups. This arrangement deviated from later philosophies that pushed for individual cells to promote isolation and reflection. Thus, the emphasis on rooms aligns well with the characteristics of those early American jails, capturing their communal nature and the transitional state of the penal system at that time.