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First Female Warden
In 1793, the first female warden, Mary Weed, took control of the Philadelphia Walnut Street Jail, after her husband, who was the original caretaker (Morton, 1991). No malicious behavior was committed by the administration, including ilegal usage of funds. -
Elizabeth Fry
Elizabeth Fry influenced the opening of Mount Pleasant, which was the first prison for women in the United States. Even though Mount Pleasant was under the supervision of a female warden it was controlled by male administrators. -
Sing Sing Prison
Elizabeth Farnham was the head guard instituting Fry's reformation methods for Sing Sing, a New York prison . She added a different psychological component to the program. She used behavioral training methods promoting maternal acting towards female inmates from prison staff (Feinman, 1994). -
Abigail Hopper Gibbons
Abigal Gibbons and her father founded the Women's Prison Association (WPA) of New York City in 1845. She lobbied for improvements in the city's prisons, advocated the hiring of police matrons and urged the establishment of separate prisons for women (wikipedia). In 1853, she obtained a New York State charter for her group. Under her leadership, the WPA undertook an aggressive program of legislative lobbying concerning jail overcrowding and women being searched by female matrons only. -
First Hopper Home
The first Hopper Home was established in June, 1845 on Fourth Street near Eighth Avenue. In its first three years, more than 450 women were sheltered there. The custom was to find them jobs as domestic help. The volunteer ladies of the Female Department, soon known as the Women's PrisonAssociation visited prisons and reported on conditions in the jails and station houses. They also taught sewing, basic reading and an appreciation for a higher morality (wikipedia). -
Mrs. E. D. Stewart
Twenty-one of the 237 delegates who attended ACA's (formerly the American Prison Association first Congress of Correction in 1870 were women (Hawkes). In an era when women were to be seen and not heard, the women involved in prison work and reform demanded a place at the table. Mrs. E. D. Stewart of Ohio stood before the distinguished delegates and stated that she" [W]ished to have some unequivocal expression from the congress in reference to engaging women in this reform work" (Wines). -
Declaration of Principles of Penitentiary and Reformatory Discipline
When the 870 Declaration of Principles of Penitentiary and Reformatiory Discipline was adopted by the National Prison Congress, principle 37 read: "This Congress is of the opinion in that, both in the official administration of such a [prison] system and in the voluntary cooperation of citizens therein, the agency of women may be imployed with excellent effect" (Wines, 1871). This implied that women would be included in all aspects but they were limited to working with women and girls. -
Indiana Women's Prison and Sarah J. Smith
This was the first separate institution for female prisoners and the first maximum-security female correctional facility in the nation. Sarah Smith was the first female superintendent of any male or female prison in the United States. She relied on traditional mentods of discipline in addition to teaching inmates some remunerative skills so that they would not be tempted to commit crimes once they were released. The women mainly worked on laundry, sewing, and knitting. -
Ellen's Cheney Johnson's Crusade
After touring many prisons and witnessing the abuse which female prisoners had to endure Ellen decided to do something about it. She began a crusade for the reform of female treatment in correctional facilities. She and other women gathered at her home and began writing letters to newspapers requesting a separate facility for females. Their letters brought the subject to legislature. They gathered over 7,000 signatures which helped pass the bill for an all-female prison in 1874 (wikipedia). -
The Reformatory Prison for women in Sherbon
The Reformatory Prison for women was finally opened in 1877 in Sherbon, near Framingham, MA. Ellen Cheney Johnson became the superintendent of the prison. Ellen tried to bridge the approaches of rehabilitation and punishment. She created programs inside the prison and outside to help the women achieve their goals. Johnson developed a system of indenture for house service in houses outside the prison walls (wikipedia). -
End of an Era
Ellen ran the prison for fifteen years and was awarded a bronze medal and diploma for her achievements in the prison system by the World's Columbian Exposition. -
AWM
The Association of Women Members of the American Prison Association was created -
The first chair of AWM
Maud Ballington Booth was the first chair of AWM. Booth cited a two--pronged focus for the purpose of the AWM. First, AWM would provide a place for the "ladies representing this great field" to get together for "mutual help and advice." Second, AWM would persuade APA to provide a place on the annual program "when women who were directly concerned and interested in the work for women prisoners should have an opportunity to emphasize this very important and very difficult field" (Hawkes, 1994). -
Connecticut State Farm and Prison for women opened
The Connecticut State Farm and prison for women was opened. It was one of the first women's reformatiories in the country where women were housed in cottages with motherly matrons in a family setting, instead of correctional officers. -
First Federal prison for women opens
The Federal Industrial Institution for Women opens in Alderson, West Virginia (history.com). The prison was run by Dr. Mary B. Harris. The overriding purpose of the prison was to reform the inmates, not punish them. The prisoners farmed the land and performed office work in order to learn how to type and file. They also cooked and canned vegetables and fruits. -
Dr. Miriam VanWaters and Prison Reformatory at Sherbon
Dr. Miriam VanWaters, who took control of the Women's Reformatory at Sherbon. Just three months later, women began leaving the prison sober and in most cases , employed. Between 1932-1935, 97 percent of the 120 women had remained self-supporting upon release (Hacker). -
Miriam VanWaters work as Superintendent at the Massachusetts Reformatory for women
She served as superintendent for the next quarter-century. Her feminist principles led to an emphasis on rehabilitation and are reflected in her active staff recruitment programs. VanWaters developed educational opportunities for the inmates, such as art and crafts courses, literary class, drama class, prison newspaper, hikers club and a parole club, which networked with other Massachusetts social reform and rehabilitation agencies outside the prison (wikipedia). -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
In 1972, the Civil Rights' Act of 1964 that prohibited sex discrimination in employment was expanded to cover state and local governments. This began to open the doors of all prisons to women -
APFO
The Committee on Affirmative Action was formed and a subcommittee dedicated to women's issues was implemented One year later, WCA became the Association on Programs for Female Offenders (APFO) so it could concentrate on the needs of female offenders -
ACA and Affirmative Action
ACA became one of the first national associations to adopt a modern affirmative action policy statement on the employment of women. The statement read: The American Correctional Association adopts affirmative action as a commitment to an on-going process which will ensure equal employment opportunities and employment conditions for minorities and women in correctional employment (American Correctional Association). -
First Female African American Commisioner
Jacqueline McMickens was the first African American female to be commissioner in New York. -
Lillian Bonds
Lillian Bonds became the first female Correctional Officer to work in a male correctional facility.
