1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:02,000 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,080 --> 00:00:13,680 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:14,040 --> 00:00:17,119 Speaker 1: a show that reveals a little bit more about history 4 00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:22,360 Speaker 1: every day. I'm Gay Blusier, and today we're looking at 5 00:00:22,360 --> 00:00:26,120 Speaker 1: the time when Quaker reformers tried to build a safer 6 00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:38,839 Speaker 1: and more rehabilitative prison for female inmates. The day was 7 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:44,080 Speaker 1: October eight, eight seventy three. In response to the horrific 8 00:00:44,159 --> 00:00:48,360 Speaker 1: treatment of female inmates at unisex prisons, the state of 9 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:53,960 Speaker 1: Indiana established the country's first prison just for women, known 10 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:58,560 Speaker 1: as the Indiana Reformatory Institution for Women and Girls. The 11 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:03,560 Speaker 1: facility was also operated by women, including the superintendent and 12 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:08,760 Speaker 1: all lower ranking officers. The idea of a prison exclusively 13 00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:12,840 Speaker 1: for women began in the eighteen sixties when a Quaker 14 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:17,480 Speaker 1: couple named Charles and Rhoda Coffin began a religious ministry 15 00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:21,639 Speaker 1: in prisons across the country. During their travels, the couple 16 00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:26,000 Speaker 1: was shocked by the loathsome conditions that prisoners were subjected to, 17 00:01:26,680 --> 00:01:30,800 Speaker 1: especially women. They began to speak out about what they saw, 18 00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:34,400 Speaker 1: and when the governor of Indiana caught wind of their reports, 19 00:01:34,720 --> 00:01:38,760 Speaker 1: he requested that the Coffins investigate the conditions at prisons 20 00:01:38,760 --> 00:01:44,280 Speaker 1: in Michigan City and Jeffersonville. Sadly, the coffins found the 21 00:01:44,319 --> 00:01:49,320 Speaker 1: female inmates at those institutions were treated just as shamefully. 22 00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:52,880 Speaker 1: Women were forced to undress in front of male guards 23 00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:57,240 Speaker 1: and prisoners, and sexual abuse and other forms of exploitation 24 00:01:57,440 --> 00:02:01,480 Speaker 1: were rampant. In light of the call Offen's findings, the 25 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:06,640 Speaker 1: Indiana Legislature established a new all female prison and appointed 26 00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:11,680 Speaker 1: Sarah Smith, a former civil War nurse, as the founding superintendent. 27 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:16,320 Speaker 1: The ten acre grounds of the prison included two departments. 28 00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:21,160 Speaker 1: The first was a juvenile reformatory, which housed girls under 29 00:02:21,200 --> 00:02:24,760 Speaker 1: the age of fifteen who had been found guilty of quote, 30 00:02:25,240 --> 00:02:31,120 Speaker 1: incorrigible or vicious conduct. The second department was the penal section, 31 00:02:31,440 --> 00:02:34,640 Speaker 1: which housed women and girls over the age of fifteen 32 00:02:34,960 --> 00:02:39,120 Speaker 1: who were convicted of all manner of criminal offenses. When 33 00:02:39,160 --> 00:02:43,920 Speaker 1: the facility opened on October eight, it received its first inmates, 34 00:02:44,600 --> 00:02:48,240 Speaker 1: seventeen women who had been transferred from the men's prison 35 00:02:48,360 --> 00:02:52,639 Speaker 1: in Jeffersonville. The first woman to be processed was a 36 00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:57,080 Speaker 1: mass murderer named Sally Hubbard, who had already served fifteen 37 00:02:57,160 --> 00:03:01,720 Speaker 1: years of her life sentence. Before being Transford. According to 38 00:03:01,760 --> 00:03:06,360 Speaker 1: the Indianapolis Star, Hubbard was welcomed by the superintendent with 39 00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:09,800 Speaker 1: a kiss on the forehead. She was then escorted to 40 00:03:09,880 --> 00:03:14,840 Speaker 1: a white room complete with curtains, a flowering plant, a Bible, 41 00:03:15,240 --> 00:03:18,840 Speaker 1: and a book of hymns. The newspaper went on to 42 00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:24,040 Speaker 1: say that, quote under this kindness, Sally became a new creature, 43 00:03:24,480 --> 00:03:30,200 Speaker 1: a trusted, devout and helpful prisoner. The more humane conditions 44 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:33,240 Speaker 1: were certainly a welcome change from what the women had 45 00:03:33,320 --> 00:03:37,800 Speaker 1: endured at Jeffersonville, and the women's prison in Indiana soon 46 00:03:37,880 --> 00:03:42,800 Speaker 1: became a model for the country's growing prison reform movement. However, 47 00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:46,920 Speaker 1: there's more to this story than meets the eye. After 48 00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:51,720 Speaker 1: successfully lobbying for the all women facility, rode A Coffin 49 00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:55,720 Speaker 1: joined its first board of visitors and eventually its board 50 00:03:55,760 --> 00:04:01,240 Speaker 1: of managers. Together with Superintendent Sarah Smith, she helped develop 51 00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:05,200 Speaker 1: a program that sought to align prisoners with the gender 52 00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:09,840 Speaker 1: roles of the Victorian era. According to the prisons Annual 53 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:14,120 Speaker 1: Report from eighteen seventy six, the goal was to train 54 00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:19,800 Speaker 1: inmates to quote occupy the position assigned to them by God, 55 00:04:20,680 --> 00:04:27,040 Speaker 1: namely as wives, mothers, and educators of children. To this end, 56 00:04:27,400 --> 00:04:31,640 Speaker 1: the women were assigned tasks like washing, sewing, and house 57 00:04:31,680 --> 00:04:37,400 Speaker 1: cleaning or prison cleaning. From a modern perspective, this approach 58 00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:41,680 Speaker 1: seems less focused on genuine reform than it was on 59 00:04:41,720 --> 00:04:46,840 Speaker 1: getting women to conform to constrictive gender roles. Still, this 60 00:04:46,920 --> 00:04:50,000 Speaker 1: new kind of prison was a market improvement over the 61 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:54,920 Speaker 1: punishment driven facilities of old or at least that's been 62 00:04:54,920 --> 00:04:59,400 Speaker 1: the accepted narrative for the last century. But in recent years, 63 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:04,560 Speaker 1: temporary inmates at that same women's prison in Indiana have 64 00:05:04,680 --> 00:05:08,599 Speaker 1: begun to question the feel good story of the institution's 65 00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:13,320 Speaker 1: benevolent founders. A few years back, a group of women 66 00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:16,440 Speaker 1: incarcerated there set out to write a history of the 67 00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:21,320 Speaker 1: prisons first ten years, and gradually a different picture came 68 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:26,159 Speaker 1: into focus. They combed through hundreds of documents from that period, 69 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:29,599 Speaker 1: including many that held up RhoD A Coffin and Sarah 70 00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:35,280 Speaker 1: Smith as paragons of virtue. Smith in particular was praised 71 00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:38,520 Speaker 1: for her patients and strong sense of right and wrong. 72 00:05:39,200 --> 00:05:42,279 Speaker 1: But the more digging they did, the more cracks began 73 00:05:42,320 --> 00:05:46,479 Speaker 1: to appear in that narrative. The first bombshell was the 74 00:05:46,520 --> 00:05:50,680 Speaker 1: published report of an eighteen eighty one investigation into the 75 00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:56,080 Speaker 1: mistreatment of prisoners under Sarah Smith's care, several former prison 76 00:05:56,160 --> 00:06:01,480 Speaker 1: employees testified to watching Smith assault inmates, with two claiming 77 00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:04,839 Speaker 1: they had seen her quote pull their hair and pound 78 00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:08,960 Speaker 1: their heads against the wall. The testimony went on to 79 00:06:09,040 --> 00:06:14,200 Speaker 1: accuse Smith of placing prisoners in solitary confinement, denying them 80 00:06:14,320 --> 00:06:18,440 Speaker 1: food and medication, and even torturing them with a practice 81 00:06:18,480 --> 00:06:23,400 Speaker 1: called dunking or water boarding. It's important to note that 82 00:06:23,520 --> 00:06:27,560 Speaker 1: Smith and the prison were later exonerated of these charges, 83 00:06:28,320 --> 00:06:32,320 Speaker 1: but that official ruling doesn't convince the women who rediscovered 84 00:06:32,360 --> 00:06:37,400 Speaker 1: this forgotten testimony. Having endured the systemic abuses of life 85 00:06:37,400 --> 00:06:42,520 Speaker 1: in prison firsthand, they believe the inmates, nurses, and staff 86 00:06:42,760 --> 00:06:47,159 Speaker 1: who reported this mistreatment all those years ago. It would 87 00:06:47,160 --> 00:06:50,920 Speaker 1: be easier and less upsetting to think that the story 88 00:06:51,080 --> 00:06:55,240 Speaker 1: of the first women's prison was one of clear cut progress, 89 00:06:55,839 --> 00:06:59,960 Speaker 1: that it was a milestone in history when correctional facilities 90 00:07:00,200 --> 00:07:04,440 Speaker 1: finally began to focus less on inflicting punishment and more 91 00:07:04,520 --> 00:07:08,320 Speaker 1: on preparing inmates for a second chance at life. But 92 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:11,680 Speaker 1: with the call for prison reform still is loud and 93 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:16,120 Speaker 1: vital today. As ever, even those outside of prison walls 94 00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:19,559 Speaker 1: should know that when something sounds too good to be true, 95 00:07:20,640 --> 00:07:26,040 Speaker 1: it probably is. I'm Gabe Louzier and hopefully you now 96 00:07:26,120 --> 00:07:30,920 Speaker 1: know a little more about history today than you did yesterday. 97 00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:34,360 Speaker 1: You can learn even more about history by following us 98 00:07:34,400 --> 00:07:39,120 Speaker 1: on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at t d i HC Show, 99 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:42,720 Speaker 1: and if you have any comments or suggestions, you can 100 00:07:42,760 --> 00:07:45,920 Speaker 1: send them my way at this Day at I heart 101 00:07:45,960 --> 00:07:50,520 Speaker 1: media dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing the show, 102 00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:53,400 Speaker 1: and thank you for listening. I'll see you back here 103 00:07:53,400 --> 00:08:03,920 Speaker 1: again tomorrow for another day in History Class. Yeah. 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