Women's Prison Women

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In 1873, America 's first maximum-security women 's prison opened (and firmly shut) its doors. The Indiana Women 's Prison was the first of its kind. Before IWP, women had been housed in separate buildings on the same grounds as the men, and before that, women just stayed in a different wing of the same building. When men and women stayed under same roof, a lot of the custodial duties over the women were delegated to the men. They brought the women their meals and in that time, the prisoners were generally unmonitored. When the men would bring the food to the women, they would extend their stays, often taking advantage of the female prisoners. By 1940, 23 states had adopted institutions to house women exclusively. There were two types:

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