U.S. Census Bureau Daily Feature for October 9: Women's Prison

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U.S. Census Bureau

Oct 09, 2015, 12:01 ET

WASHINGTON, Oct. 9, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:

WOMEN'S PRISON
Profile America — Friday, October 9th. On this date in 1873, a sturdy and somber-looking building opened its doors to admit 17 long-term residents. Then it promptly closed and locked those doors. With the opening of the Indiana Reformatory Institution for Women and Girls in Indianapolis, the country had its first maximum-security penitentiary built for and managed by women. Formerly, female convicts were imprisoned in male facilities where they suffered abuse from male guards and inmates. The reformatory remains locked for business to this day, now named the Indiana Women's Prison. It houses around 430 of the approximately 111,000 women in federal and state prisons. Overall, there are around 1.36 million prisoners in state facilities. America's state governments spend over $48 billion per year on their corrections systems. Profile America is in its19th year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau. 

Sources:
Kane's Famous First Facts, 2823
Indiana Reformatory Institution for Women and Girls history: http://americanprisonsystem.com/2011/04/indiana-womens-prison/ 
Statistics on Women Offenders: http://www.corrections.com/news/article/30166-statistics-on-women-offenders 
Prison Population: http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/press/p13pr.cfm 
State corrections: http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=SGF_2013_SGF003&prodType=table

Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotions of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Multimedia Gallery" by the "Newsroom" button). 

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SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau

Related Links

http://www.census.gov

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