Woman's work in America

by Unknown

In the spirit of the department’s motto, “Not willing that any should perish,” the investigations have extended to State prisons, penitentiaries, convict camps, city prisons and jails, houses of correction or refuge, police stations and lock-ups, and reformatories for adults and juveniles.

In many of these places were found a brutality and neglect of the common decencies of life which were disgraceful beyond description. Criminals of all grades herded together irrespective of age, sex, or degrees in vice. Youths of both sexes confined with those hardened in crime, while awaiting trial, became schooled in vice. Thousands, who for some first and trivial offense were lodged in the calaboose or the county jail, exposed to the contaminating influences of indiscriminate companionship, became hardened, and lost all self-respect as they yielded, day by day, to this mind-poisoning, moral miasma.

The first visits of the women to many of these places, where they went unheralded, were unwelcome, and they were sometimes repulsed by officials with, “We don’t ’low any women round here; leastwise, only them that’s sentenced.” Entrance at last secured, it would have been a picture worthy of some master hand when these women stepped, pale-faced but brave-hearted, into those miserable, crowded corridors. The lewd and profane conversation was hushed, but it could be felt, as plainly as could be seen the vilest of obscene prints and the most dangerous kinds of literature.

Nothing was more disheartening than the condition of women in these places. Having become criminals, they were generally deemed hopeless, and, on being released, it was expected they would drift back again after a longer or shorter period.

The call to the work gained emphasis as it was realized how little this age of boasted civilization and philanthropy had done for unfortunate and degraded women. Arrested by men, given into the hands of men to be searched and cared for, tried by men, sentenced by men, and committed to our various institutions for months and even years, where only men officials had access to them, and where, in sickness or direst need, no womanly help or visitation was expected or allowed.

In one of the New York cities, in a jail, eleven women were found to be in the care of men, and the keys of “the women’s quarters” in the hands of one of the male convicts. The women, with the intent of being ready for their release, which was near, had removed most of their clothing “for the wash,” and were in a semi-nude condition.

A visitor to a county jail in Pennsylvania, writes: “The scene that met our gaze when we entered the jail was indescribable. The prisoners—twenty-six men and two women—were allowed to associate in the open space between the vestibule and the cells. In appearance, they might have been a gang of bandits in a cave. The men were in groups, playing cards on low boxes on the floor. The jail was deficient in ventilation, also in light and cleanliness.”

In a New England jail two boys were found under fourteen years of age. The months which would elapse before their trial would be ample time to complete their crime education under the tutelage thus provided for them. Similar sights may be seen in many of the prisons and jails of our land, proving conclusively the need of womanly forethought in these matters, which from a merely economical standpoint need prompt attention. The better care of our juvenile offenders cannot be deferred without irreparable loss, for in a few years we shall have missed our chance to save them, so they will then be found in the ranks of confirmed criminals. Perhaps no work of the department will prove more fruitful in results than the effort to secure Matrons for the Police Stations. The movement began in 1877 and has been adopted in one or more cities in twenty States, while in Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania all cities over a given number of inhabitants are required by law to provide matrons to care for arrested women. We quote from an article furnished the International Review in 1888 by the present writer:

POLICE MATRONS.

Shall we have police matrons? seems no longer an open question. With the reform inaugurated in twenty cities, and under advisement in as many more, the idea may be said to be established. How wide is to be the influence of such an officer, and how effective her work, depend upon the place and the woman. “The place” should be central, with requisite accommodations for the comfort and convenience of the matron, in order that she may economize her time and strength. Official recognition of her work and its importance, with ready co-operation in various ways, will necessarily have much to do with its success; and these have sometimes been won under very trying circumstances. Other points, more or less essential, will occur to those interested, for every conceivable objection and obstacle will be presented, emphasized, and duly magnified while the effort is being made to secure a place.