Women In Prisons

Prison reformations that were made during the nineteenth century were centered around the dedication broght on by the superintends. The main issue for the convicts at this time was that there was no separation of genders; reformations to the prison system changed that and the environment these women had to sustain. “For fifty years prior to 1875, no women had been committed to the state prison at Charlestown, but were confined in jails and houses of corrections” (MCI-Framingham). From the year that The Reformatory For Women at Sherborn opened in 1877, to the end of the term of the seventh, most memorable superintendent, Dr. Mirian Van Waters, the prison underwent multiple reforms that formulated it from a holding facility for women to a prison
Miriam Van Waters replenished the Reformatory and made a multitude of changes that changed the prison to benafit the intmate’s wellbeing. For the interest of the inmates, day work was extended and the Indenture Law was revised; the work that the inmates did while imprissioned (Bissonnette 3). Over the next three years, Superintendent Van Waters made some changes to the living arrangement for which started in 1934 ith the construction of cottages. In 1936 is when the women began to move into the cottages and the separation of the female inmates was first seen. The separation between the ages of the inmates; the younger, first time offenders were living in Hodder Hall while the others stayed in the main part. There were also inmates that were mothers in prison, women that had children while incarcerated, who moved into Woodrow Wilson Sayre Cottage (Bissonnette 3-4). This separation was good for the inmates because the newcomers were not bullied by the older women. In 1948, a big change in the prison system was made; a classification department was introduced along with a cooperative store. The classification department made it easier to keep track of the inmates; this used Superintnedent Morton’s fingerinprinting method of identification. The cooperative store was for the inmates, this is a place where they can buy necessities (Bissonnette 7). These additions to the prison for the inmates made the place more organized. In 1949, some accusations were made against Superintendent Van Waters that there were instances where she was “coddling”, or having relationships with the inmates. This called for a whole investigation that forced Dr. Van Waters to take a leave of absence (Bissonnette 7). This investigation damaged her repuation in the Prison Reformation Era. She did so much for The Reformatory that changed it for the better like the non-hostlie environment.Within the same year, she was let back into her position as Superintendent