Established 2023
Women in Prison
Monday, November 11, 2024
The Eastern State Penitentiary (ESP) offers a wealth of historical context to study how lives once were behind the bars, but the remaining artifacts were largely dominated by the works of male prisoners in the Print Shop, resulting in a misrepresentation of the full picture of life in the ESP. Specifically, according to the population concensus, there are 1396 male prisoners and 24 female prisoners (Volume 5 Issue 38 Page 2). To offer a different perspective on the lives of inmates, we will focus on the works of the female inmates in the ESP who lived in the "2nd Block" and affectionately called themselves the "Ladies' Auxiliary" as part of the Honor and Friendship Club (H.F.C.), ESP's mutual aid society.
As mentioned above, these female inmates contributed to the works at the ESP largely through domestic tasks such as making embroidered handkerchiefs, knitting sweaters, decorating the Christmas tree, and uplifting the spirit of male inmates simply by being pretty and attractive.
During Christmas season, the article "Inside Jingles" noted that "the printer are busily engaged on the annual report and various other work," implying that male inmates were occupied with work at the Print Shop during this season. At the same time, the "jovial president 'Mazoo Bill'" is helping with "embroidering ladies' handkerchiefs," emphasizing the importance of contribution from female inmates during this festive time. Note that this is one of the few times that female inmate contributes were mentioned, as well as a time when "some 40 sweaters for [their] soldier boys have already been knitted" (Volume 5 Issue 25 Page 3). In another article called "Christmas Decorations of Rare Merit at the E.S.P.," "the female inmates have added their quota of effort at helping to decorate their section" (Volume 5 Issue 52 Page 1). It is again important to note the semantics of this text: the female inmates "added" their effort at "helping" the decoration, implying that the female inmates were merely auxiliary efforts to aid male inmates in accomplishing their tasks. Interestingly, the females also called themselves the "Ladies' Auxiliary." This is a recurring theme in how the female inmates were perceived in the ESP, as well as how they viewed themselves.
Amidst this festive occasion, "some very attractive young ladies, made it easier for aspiring musician to render the difficult program in a very finished and almost perfect manner" (Volumn 5 Issue 50 Page 1). This depiction of female inmates as a symbol of attractiveness that uplifts the spirit of male inmates is especially common in the ESP.
We can see the significance of the so called "female beauty" in another occasion. During one of the weeks of the ESP baseball League game, when "President held Vice-President A 8432 to his duty and took him down the 2nd Block to pin on a H.F.C. [,] Pete has been here 23 years and in that time has never beheld such a beautiful gathering of female beauty" (Volumn 6 Issue 18 Page 1). Note that these articles are written by male inmates, and it is very clear that instead of documenting the material contributions from the female inmates, they were mostly known for and appreciated for their beauty. This might have been a reflection of the norms at the time, during which women were mostly subjected to their gender roles, but it showed that female presence in the prison, although in small numbers, was significant enough to make the ESP a better place.
In response, the female inmates were very appreciative of how they were viewed by the male inmates. Below is quote from a letter from a representative of the female inmates:
"We, the girls of the 2nd Block, wish to extend to you our sincere and heartfelt thanks for the entertainment furnished to us recently. Words cannot express to you our high appreciation of this courtesy which was extended to us and we congratulate you most cordially on the excellent result of the same."
In another letter, the warden extended his appreciation to the female inmates by having a movie show, and they sent again in another letter:
"Well, surprises will never cease. We the women of the Second Block can vouch for this, as we were most agreeably surprised on Friday afternoon when Warden McKenty made the announcement that we were to have a movie show on Saturday afternoon. We most heartily thank Warden McKenty for his kindness and we are going to earnestly endeavor to merit the same, and hope that in the future if any follow us that they will have it better than we have, and we are going to pave the way if given a chance... Just wait Mr. Rube, if women ever get the vote, we won’t forget our freinds of the present day."
The last statement implied that female inmates did not have as much power and significant tasks compared to the male inmates, including the ability to vote, but overall tone of the two quotes showed that the female inmates were grateful for any attention they received from the male inmates and the warden, even though they were not entirely satisfied with such treatment. This showcased an interesting dynamic between the two genders within the prison life in the ESP, and we can see that life in the ESP was definitely not dull, partly due to contributions from the female inmates.
