Woman's work in America

by Unknown

The safe transfer of the women prisoners, seventeen in number, under the charge of warden, chaplain, and matron of the Jeffersonville prison, was considered a great event, “as two were dangerous and others below hope.” The present Superintendent says: “We have no weapons of defense, not a gun or pistol about the premises. Kind words and gentleness of manner are almost sure to win. We have eleven lady officers, women of refinement and Christian character, lending every thought to the uplifting of their sex.” The financial showing in the seventeenth annual report reflects great credit upon the management, while the large percentage claimed as “permanently reformed,” attests to the thoroughness of work and wisdom of methods.

In 1870 a number of influential ladies of Eastern Massachusetts—among whom was Mrs. E. C. Johnson, the present Superintendent of the reformatory—petitioned the Legislature for a separate institution for the reformation of female prisoners, but it was not until the fall of 1874 that ground was broken at Sherborn for the erection of the buildings. In September, 1877, these were occupied, and the work has been eminently successful from the start. The system of grading adopted in 1881 has proved very satisfactory, and over two hundred and thirty inmates, ranging from fifteen to seventy-five years of age, find in it an incentive to order and decorum. The aim is to prepare them, if found trustworthy, to do good work as servants, and this is so far a success that the demand is greater than the supply.

No one familiar with the old régime in connection with women prisoners but would hail with thankfulness the improvements shown under the present administration. Said an English critic after a visit: “I remarked, ‘These people are almost of a hopeless type’; the reply came quickly, ‘Hopeless is not a permitted word here, we hope for all.’ I came away glad to have seen such an experiment, hopeful for its success, and confident that women had undertaken for women a beneficent work.”

Women in other States are agitating the question of separate prisons for women, and in several feel assured of success in the near future.

In 1887 at Hudson, N. Y., The House of Refuge for Women was opened, and an efficient lady superintendent placed in charge. The results reached, even at this short period, have been encouraging in the highest degree, and emphasize the wisdom of the arrangements, which are largely due to the persistent efforts of women in philanthropic circles. We quote from report of “Standing Committee on Reformatories,” of which Josephine Shaw Lowell is a member: “To any who have visited even once one of the county jails in this State, and know the condition of young women in them, kept in idleness, in the midst of degraded companions, under the charge of male keepers, frequently not out of sound, sometimes not out of sight of the male prisoners, nothing can be more affecting than to see the young women in the House of Refuge, neatly dressed, always occupied, and constantly under the care of refined and conscientious women.”

WOMEN ON STATE BOARDS.

In New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Wisconsin there are women on the State Board of Charities.[^[201]] In Pennsylvania, the board appoints women visitors to public institutions, and in Rhode Island the Governor appoints a board of women visitors to all institutions caring for women and girls. Massachusetts stands alone in the honor of having women on “Boards of Commissioners of Prisons.” This was inaugurated in 1880, and their gracious womanly influence is felt in all the institutions of the State.

In some other States women are coming to be recognized factors in these lines of work, and are cordially invited to fill places of trust. The Journal of Prison Discipline and Philanthropy, published by the Pennsylvania Prison Association, in its issue of 1886 says: “This society has profited largely by the recent admission of competent women into the acting committee. Their suggestions have proved of marked advantage, and with the time, intelligence, and high moral force they have given to the work, both in and out of the prison, there has been a gain which promises incalculable good.”

DEPARTMENT OF PRISON, JAIL, AND POLICE WORK OF THE NATIONAL WOMAN’S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION.

This department is in the eleventh year of organized work, which, under the same Superintendent, Mrs. S. H. Barney, of Providence, has steadily increased until now her parish is the entire country. The plan of national, State, and local superintendents insures system and supervision all along the lines, and brings out annually the general summary of work attempted and work accomplished.