Benevolent Surveillance: Prison Matrons and Women's Prison Reform in Nineteenth-Century America
Open Access
Author:
Levy, Carolyn
Graduate Program:
History
Degree:
Doctor of Philosophy
Document Type:
Dissertation
Date of Defense:
May 27, 2022
Committee Members:
Lori Ginzberg, Chair & Dissertation Advisor Amy Greenberg, Major Field Member Kathryn Merkel-Hess McDonald, Professor in Charge/Director of Graduate Studies Stephen Browne, Outside Unit Member Alicia Decker, Outside Field Member
Keywords:
History Women Prison Reform Carceral Studies Prison Prisons Prison Matrons Reform Gender
Abstract:
This dissertation traces the development of women’s prison reform in the United States during the antebellum period. Women’s prison reform societies focused on two key issues during this period—the separation of women from men within prisons, and the hiring of prison matrons to protect and discipline female prisoners. I argue that the prison matron was critical to women prison reformers’ efforts to promote their visions of moral reform and prison discipline. These reformers—who were predominantly from white, middle-class, Protestant backgrounds—asserted their moral authority to influence and control the rehabilitation and punishment of female prisoners. My research examines several different prison reform organizations and benevolent societies in the United States, discuses the work of Elizabeth Fry who first imagined the role of the prison matron, and analyzes the work of some of the earliest prison matrons in US prisons.
