NCJ Number
126451
Date Published
1990
Length
290 pages
Annotation
This study of the origins and development of women's prisons in the United States traces their evolution from the late 18th century to the present day with the focus on the period 1865-1935.
Abstract
Information and data were obtained from first-hand accounts, legislative documents, investigatory commission reports, and the records of over 4,600 female inmates taken from the original registers of 5 institutions. The study covers all types of State-supported penal institutions that held women, including mixed-sex and all-female penitentiaries as well as the open reformatories. The review notes that the character of penal treatment for women evolved from cultural definitions of womanhood, definitions which varied by race and social class. Two models of women's prisons emerged. Custodial institutions evolved from men's penitentiaries in which women were initially housed in a separate room. Women were eventually housed in separate custodial facilities and experienced persistent inmate neglect. The second model was the reformatory, the result of middle-class reform movements. These facilities generally housed women convicted of milder offenses such as morals offenses. The reformatory was the result of middle-class reform movements, and it aimed to rehabilitate inmates with an intensity unparalleled in men's prisons. In tracing regional and racial variations in these two models of women's institutions over time, the author concludes that both models rendered partial justice to female inmates in that they were either treated with more leniency than men or provided less opportunities. 12 tables, 1 figure, 56 notes, 494-item bibliography, and a subject index