There’s been a huge resurgence across Reddit and HN today to resurrect Defund the Police and ACAB but implying police and prisons were invented after 1865 surely takes the cake.
I posted a bit of history in a sibling comment, but it's not technically wrong to say that the 1800s was the century in which we got the police forces we have today. (But yes, obviously there were other institutions that predated them.)
> but implying police and prisons were invented after 1865 surely takes the cake
I don't think they, nor anyone, is making this assertion.
There is a direct lineage from modern day police departments to slave patrols. If it helps to understand it, think about Jim Crow laws of the 19th and 20th centuries. This set of laws criminalized being Black and were enforced by police.