New York Women's House of Detention

Last updated
New York Women's House of Detention
New York Women's House of Detention
Location Greenwich Village, New York
StatusClosed
Opened1932
Closed1974

The New York Women's House of Detention was a women's prison in Manhattan, New York City from 1932 to 1974.

Contents

Built on the site of the Jefferson Market Prison that had succeeded the Jefferson Market in Manhattan's Greenwich Village, [1] the New York Women's House of Detention is believed to have been the world's only art deco prison. [2] It was designed by Sloan & Robertson in 1931 at a cost of $2,000,000 and opened to the public by Richard C. Patterson, Jr. on March 29, 1932. [3] It did not receive its first inmates until some time later. Its location at 10 Greenwich Avenue gave the women inmates an opportunity to try to communicate with people walking by. [4] After the prison was officially closed on June 13, 1971, [5] Mayor Lindsay began the demolition of the prison in 1973, [6] and it was completed the following year. [7] The Jefferson Market Garden, now on the site, has a historical marker recognizing the site's history. [8]

Ruth E. Collins was the first superintendent at the prison. [9] She embraced the design of the prison, labeling it "a new era in penology". Her mission was to effect the moral and social rehabilitation of the women in her charge, giving them a chance for "restoration as well as for punishment". She commissioned a number of art works as part of her mission to uplift the women and treat them all as individuals. Among the Women's House of Detention's most famous inmates were:

In its later years, allegations of racial discrimination, abuse and mistreatment dogged the prison. Angela Davis has been outspoken about the treatment she witnessed. [10] Andrea Dworkin's testimony of her assault by two of the prison's doctors led to its eventual closing. [11] Audre Lorde described the House of Detention as, "a defiant pocket of female resistance, ever-present as a reminder of possibility, as well as punishment." [12] [13]

In 2022, the historian Hugh Ryan published a history of the prison called The Women's House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison. [14] He writes, "It was one of the Village's most famous landmarks: a meeting place for locals and a must-see site for adventurous tourists. And for tens of thousands of arrested women and transmasculine people from every corner of the city, the House of D was a nexus, drawing the threads of their lives together in its dark and fearsome cells." [15]

Pop culture

Hellhole: The Shocking Story of the Inmates and Life in the New York House of Detention for Women, published in 1967 by Sara Harris, [16] recounts her time as a social worker in the prison, and the shocking scenes she witnessed.

Jerry Herman's Off-Broadway musical, Parade , opened in 1960 and featured a song called "Save the Village", [17] originally entitled “Don’t Tear Down the House of Detention.” [18] Melvin Van Peebles' musical, Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death , which opened on Broadway in 1972 features a song, "10th and Greenwich" and is considered the first lesbian love song in Broadway history. [18]

The prison featured prominently in the 2004 film House of D . [19]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angela Davis</span> American academic and political activist (born 1944)

Angela Yvonne Davis is an American Marxist and feminist political activist, philosopher, academic, and author. She is Distinguished Professor Emerita of Feminist Studies and History of Consciousness at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Davis was a longtime member of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) and a founding member of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism (CCDS). She was active in movements such as the Occupy movement and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prison–industrial complex</span> Attribution of the U.S.s high incarceration rate to profit

The prison-industrial complex (PIC) is a term, coined after the "military-industrial complex" of the 1950s, used by scholars and activists to describe the many relationships between institutions of imprisonment and the various businesses that benefit from them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Attica Prison riot</span> 1971 prisoner rebellion in New York

The Attica Prison Riot, also known as the Attica Prison Rebellion, the Attica Uprising, or the Attica Prison Massacre, took place at the state prison in Attica, New York; it started on September 9, 1971, and ended on September 13 with the highest number of fatalities in the history of United States prison uprisings. Of the 43 men who died, all but one guard and three inmates were killed by law enforcement gunfire when the state retook control of the prison on the final day of the uprising. The Attica Uprising has been described as an historic event in the prisoners' rights movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arkansas Department of Corrections</span> American government agency

The Arkansas Department of Corrections (DOC), formerly the Arkansas Department of Correction, is the state law enforcement agency that oversees inmates and operates state prisons within the U.S. state of Arkansas. DOC consists of two divisions, the Arkansas Division of Corrections (ADC) and the Arkansas Division of Community Corrections (DCC), as well as the Arkansas Correctional School District. ADC is responsible for housing and rehabilitating people convicted of crimes by the courts of Arkansas. ADC maintains 20 prison facilities for inmates in 12 counties. DCC is responsible for adult parole and probation and offender reentry.

John Stoltenberg is an American author, activist, magazine editor, college lecturer, playwright, and theater reviewer who identifies his political perspective as radical feminist. For several years he has worked for DC Metro Theater Arts and as of 2019 is its executive editor. He has written three books, two collections of his essays and a novel. He was the life partner of Andrea Dworkin for 30 years and has lived with his husband, Joe Hamilton, for over 15 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Incarceration in the United States</span> Form of punishment in United States law

Incarceration in the United States is one of the primary means of punishment for crime in the United States. In 2021, over five million people were under supervision by the criminal justice system, with nearly two million people incarcerated in state or federal prisons and local jails. The United States has the largest known prison population in the world. It has 5% of the world’s population while having 20% of the world’s incarcerated persons. China, with more than four times more inhabitants, has fewer persons in prison. Prison populations grew dramatically beginning in the 1970s, but began a decline around 2009, dropping 25% by year-end 2021.

The women in prison film is a subgenre of exploitation film that began in the early 20th century and continues to the present day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CoreCivic</span> U.S. prison-operating company

CoreCivic, formerly the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), is a company that owns and manages private prisons and detention centers and operates others on a concession basis. Co-founded in 1983 in Nashville, Tennessee by Thomas W. Beasley, Robert Crants, and T. Don Hutto, it received investments from the Tennessee Valley Authority, Vanderbilt University, and Jack C. Massey, the founder of Hospital Corporation of America.

Arthur Kill Correctional Facility was a medium security correctional facility on Arthur Kill Road in Charleston, Staten Island, New York City. It operated from 1976 to 2011, run by what was then the New York State Department of Correctional Services. The prison had a capacity of 931 male inmates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cummins Unit</span> Unincorporated community in Arkansas, United States

The Cummins Unit is an Arkansas Department of Corrections prison in unincorporated Lincoln County, Arkansas, United States, in the Arkansas Delta region. It is located along U.S. Route 65, near Grady, Gould, and Varner, 28 miles (45 km) south of Pine Bluff, and 60 miles (97 km) southeast of Little Rock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jefferson Market Prison</span> Former prison in New York City

The Jefferson Market Prison was a prison in New York City at 10 Greenwich Avenue that opened in 1877, together with the adjacent Third Judicial District Courthouse. Frederick Clarke Withers designed these twin buildings in an ornate American Gothic style. The landmark courthouse survived Jefferson Market's 1927 demolition and today serves as a New York Public Library branch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn</span> United States federal administrative detention facility in Brooklyn, New York City

The Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn is a United States federal administrative detention facility in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City. It holds male and female prisoners of all security levels. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federal Detention Center, Philadelphia</span> American federal prison

The Federal Detention Center, Philadelphia is a United States Federal prison in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which mostly holds pretrial male and female inmates as well as inmates serving brief sentences or those that are being transported to another prison within the federal prison system. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Penitentiary, Atlanta</span> Low-security United States federal prison for male inmates in Atlanta, Georgia, USA

The United States Penitentiary, Atlanta is a low-security United States federal prison for male inmates in Atlanta, Georgia. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. The facility also has a detention center for pretrial and holdover inmates, and a satellite prison camp for minimum-security male inmates.

<i>Short Eyes</i> (play) Play written by Miguel Piñero

Short Eyes is a 1974 drama written by playwright Miguel Piñero. The play premiered at the Theater of the Riverside Church, was then produced off-Broadway at the Joseph Papp Public Theater on February 28, 1974, and transferred after 54 performances to the Vivian Beaumont Theater on Broadway on May 23, 1974. Short Eyes, prison slang for a child molester, was written for a prisoners' writing workshop during Piñero's incarceration for armed robbery.

Pratibha Parmar is a British writer and filmmaker. She has made feminist documentaries such as Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth and My Name is Andrea about Andrea Dworkin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prison</span> Institution in which people are legally physically confined

A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, remand center, hoosegow, or slammer is a facility where people are imprisoned against their will and denied their liberty under the authority of the state, generally as punishment for various crimes. Authorities most commonly use prisons within a criminal-justice system: people charged with crimes may be imprisoned until their trial; those who have pled or been found guilty of crimes at trial may be sentenced to a specified period of imprisonment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT people in prison</span> Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people in prison

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people face difficulties in prison such as increased vulnerability to sexual assault, other kinds of violence, and trouble accessing necessary medical care. While much of the available data on LGBTQ inmates comes from the United States, Amnesty International maintains records of known incidents internationally in which LGBTQ prisoners and those perceived to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender have suffered torture, ill-treatment and violence at the hands of fellow inmates as well as prison officials.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federal Correctional Institution, Englewood</span> Low-security United States federal prison for male inmates

The Federal Correctional Institution, Englewood is a low-security United States federal prison for male inmates in Colorado. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), a division of the United States Department of Justice. The facility also has an administrative detention center and an adjacent satellite prison camp for minimum-security offenders.

Carol Janeway (1913–1989) was a noted American ceramicist active in New York City in the 1940s and 1950s. She was active in the preservation of Greenwich Village starting in the late 1940s.

References

  1. "Women's house of detention protects the first offenders; New York's model prison". The New York Times. March 8, 1931. Retrieved May 18, 2011.
  2. Gold, Ed (2005). "Where 'The House of D' once loomed, garden blooms". The Villager. 74 (51). Archived from the original on July 23, 2018. Retrieved May 18, 2011.
  3. "Luxury jail here for women ready". The New York Times. March 29, 1932. Retrieved May 18, 2011.
  4. Kaufman, Michael T. (October 15, 1970). "Davis case goes to city's courts". The New York Times. Retrieved May 18, 2011.
  5. Spiegel, Irving (June 14, 1971). "Women's prison closed; Inmates moved to Rikers". The New York Times. Retrieved May 18, 2011.
  6. Schumach, Murray (October 10, 1973). "City begins demolishing women's jail". The New York Times. Retrieved May 18, 2011.
  7. Neumaier, Joe (April 23, 2005). "Duchovny: Film is both personal and universal". The Seattle Times. Retrieved May 18, 2011.
  8. "Jefferson Market Garden Historical Marker". www.hmdb.org. Retrieved 2024-09-01.
  9. Blanshard, Julia (January 9, 1932). "Modern skyscraper prison will be "school" for women". The Meridan Daily Journal. Retrieved May 18, 2011.
  10. "Angela Davis taps past for passion". Contra Costa Times. September 27, 1998. Retrieved May 18, 2011.
  11. Jeffery, Simon (April 11, 2005). "Feminist icon Andrea Dworkin dies". The Guardian. London. Retrieved May 18, 2011.
  12. "The House of D". Village Preservation. 2020-07-22. Retrieved 2022-04-25.
  13. Nestle, Joan. "Women's House of Detention, 1931-1974 · Historical Musings, 2008". outhistory.org. Archived from the original on April 17, 2024. Retrieved 2024-09-01.
  14. Ryan, Hugh (2021). The Women's House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison'. New York: Bold Type Books. ISBN   978-1-64503-664-7.
  15. "Before Stonewall: The Women's House of Detention Changed Queer History". The Advocate . 2022-05-10. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
  16. Harris, Sara (1967). Hellhole: The Shocking Story of the Inmates and Life in the New York House of Detention for Women. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co.
  17. "Parade! by Jerry Herman". www.jerryherman.com. Retrieved 2022-04-26.
  18. 1 2 Ryan, Hugh (2022). The Women's House of Detention. Bold Type Books. p. 239. ISBN   9781645036647.
  19. Simon, Jeff (April 29, 2005). "Cell order". The Buffalo News. Retrieved May 18, 2011.

40°44′03″N73°59′58″W / 40.73417°N 73.99944°W / 40.73417; -73.99944