A lot of people wouldn’t guess that the first women’s prison in the nation was built in Indiana in 1873. Though it has moved locations and changed names, it is still open and imprisoning women. Its current name is the Indiana Women’s Prison. We talked to two researchers who uncovered stories about the early history of this prison, stories that call the official textbook account into question. But this isn’t just the story of the first women’s prison in the nation, it’s also the tale of the journey of the two researchers who exposed the prison’s dark beginnings.

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Show Notes:

• Indiana Humanities
• Indiana’s Bicentennial Celebration
• Michelle Jones, “Women’s Prison History: The Undiscovered Country” in Perspectives on History (February 2015)
• Michelle Jones and Lori Record, “Magdalene Laundries: The First Prisons for Women in the United States” in Journal of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences (2014) (paywall)
• Indiana Women’s Prison
• Female inmates sterilized in California prisons without approval
• Miranda Fricker, Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing
• Story about Michelle Jones and Anastazia Schmid’s work on Slate
• Population of incarcerated women has increased 700% from 1980 to 2014 (The Sentencing Project, “Incarcerated Women and Girls”)
• Micol Seigel, “Convict Race“
• Forthcoming presentation “The Origins of Women’s Prisons in the United States” at American Historical Association by Michelle Jones
• Education in prisons reduces recidivism rates (United States Department of Justice)

Thanks to Evelyn Brosius for our logo. Music used in this episode (in order of appearance):

1. “Badlands” by Cory Gray
   From the Free Music Archive
   CC BY-NC 3.0
2.  “Ritual Five” by Jason Leonard
   From the Free Music Archive
   CC BY-NC 3.0
3. “August (Summer Nights)” by Kai Engel
   From the Free Music Archive
   CC BY-NC 4.0
4. “A Certain Lightness” by Blue Dot Sessions
   From the Free Music Archive
   CC BY-NC 4.0
5. “Callow” by Blue Dot Sessions
   From the Free Music Archive
   CC BY-NC 4.0
6. “Planting Flags” by Blue Dot Sessions
   From the Free Music Archive
   CC BY-NC 4.0

To contact the Prindle Institute, email examiningethics@gmail.com.

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