the separate prison system also signaled a shift from physical punishment to psychological punishment. the hard corporal punishment, such as whippings, used in other penal stations was thought to only serve to harden criminals, and did nothing to turn them from their immoral ways. for example, food was used to reward well-behaved prisoners and as punishment for troublemakers. as a reward, a prisoner could receive larger amounts of food or even luxury items such as tea, sugar, and tobacco. as punishment, the prisoners would receive the bare minimum of bread and water. under this system of punishment, the "silent system" was implemented in the building. here, prisoners were hooded and made to stay silent; this was supposed to allow time for the prisoner to reflect upon the actions which had brought him there. many of the prisoners in the separate prison developed mental illness from the lack of light and sound. this was an unintended outcome, although the asylum was built right next to the separate prison. in many ways, port arthur was the model for many of the penal reform movement, despite shipping, housing, and slave-labour use of convicts being as harsh, or worse, than others stations around the nation.