Behind the gates and fences of women’s prisons in the Southern U.S., there was a world operated under the exception clause of the 13th Amendment. An environment where work quotas and discipline were as much a part of daily life as domestic training and starchy prison uniforms.
At Acta Femina, our research is confined to the five-decade period between 1928 and 1978, the era between the abolition of convict leasing and the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Hutto v. Finney. Most notably, we focus on some peculiar aspects of the Alabama and Arkansas penal systems.
We’re currently working hard to prepare a Fact Check section that will debunk common myths about Southern U.S. women’s prisons in the 20th century.