Federal Prison Camp, Alderson

Alderson Federal Prison Camp
Location near Alderson, West Virginia
Status Operational
Security class Minimum (Female)
Capacity 1,050
Opened 1927
Managed by Federal Bureau of Prisons

Alderson Federal Prison Camp, also known as Federal Prison Camp, Alderson or FPC Alderson, is a Federal Bureau of Prisons minimum security prison for women in the United States in unincorporated Monroe County and Summers County in West Virginia. Alderson, West Virginia, was chosen as the site for the first federal prison for women and the facility opened on November 14, 1928.[1]

The prison camp has a population of around 1,050.[2] The prison is 270 miles (430 km) southwest of Washington, DC.[3] The 159-acre (64 ha) facility is the largest employer in the Alderson, West Virginia area.[4]

Contents

History

Federal prisons for women lagged behind the facilities for males.[5] Women offenders either were given alternative punishments or were housed alone within all-male institutions. Prison staff and fellow inmates sexually exploited girls and women who were incarcerated in these facilities.[5]

Mabel Walker Willebrandt, the Assistant U.S. Attorney General, first encouraged establishment of a facility for women.[6] FPC Alderson, which opened in 1927, was the first federal women's prison in the United States.[7] It was opened during a reform movement in the 1920s to help reform female offenders.[8]

The first warden, Mary B. Harris, was chosen by Mabel Willebrandt.[6] Despite later bureau mythology that Alderson opened its doors with moonshining women from the hills of West Virginia, 174 women had been sent to the facility in the first year of operation before its formal November 14, 1928, opening.[9]

Serving as a model for prison reform at the time, it was styled after a boarding school offering education with no armed guards.[10] The facility followed a reformatory model with no fenced grounds.[5] The prison consisted of primarily work-oriented facilities designed for minor federal offenders. It originally consisted of fourteen cottages built in a horseshoe pattern on two-tiered slopes.[11] The offenders segregated by race in the cottages and each building contained a kitchen and rooms for about thirty women.[11] The vast majority of the women were imprisoned for drug and alcohol charges imposed during the Prohibition era.[12]

The prison

The prison is located in two West Virginia counties, near the town of Alderson. A portion of the prison is located in unincorporated Monroe County, while the other portion of the prison, including the dormitories, lies in unincorporated Summers County.[2][13] Four other area towns, Hinton, Lewisburg, Ronceverte, and White Sulphur Springs are within commuting distance to FPC Alderson.[14]

While there is no barbed wire on the fence surrounding the camp, the prisoners have schedules and each one must work. Inmates get holidays off except those who work in the powerhouse and kitchen.[15] From its beginning, Alderson's staff members have maintained a focus on vocational training and personal growth experiences, with craft-shop activities an integral part of vocational training.[16] Free time is spent walking around the sidewalk that is set between the two dorms as this is within bounds for the inmates. Since 2004 inmates are no longer free to roam the entire campus and are restricted in areas of the prison. They also play volleyball.

Most of the inmates at FPC Alderson have been convicted of non-violent or white-collar crime. Many are in the drug program and have come from other prisons to attend the program at Alderson. They sleep in bunk beds in two large dormitories. The dormitories hold 500 plus inmates a piece. Each inmate sleeps in a 5 by 9 feet (1.5 × 2.7 m) cinderblock cube inside of this open dormitory.

The prison is nicknamed "Camp Cupcake" by most residents and the media.[17] Local residents have also referred to it as "the college campus."[17] It was called "Yale" by one-time attendee Martha Stewart.[18] By 2004, according to Alexandra Marks of The Independent the operating model for Alderson "follows a punitive rather than a rehabilitative model".[8]

John Benish, the former co-manager of the Alderson Hospitality House, a hospitality establishment where families of Alderson inmates stay, said that FPC Alderson is "built like a college campus. There is lot of property, a lot of greenery and there is no barbed wire around." The Alderson facility includes one dormitory with 500 inmates and several small cottages holding other inmates. Inmates live in two person cubicles instead of traditional barred prison cells.[19]

As of 2004 most prisoners at Alderson were convicted of recreational drug-related offenses. Esther Heffernan, a sociology professor at Edgewood College, said that throughout history the inmates included "relatives of famous mobsters and grandmotherly women who embezzled money from banks. You've had a real mixture." Hefferman added that in Alderson, which was a "not undesirable" place to be confined, the isolation from urban life could be stressful for inmates. She said that the inmates, "Coming from the streets of New York and D.C.," were awakened at night by crickets and frogs.[20] Prisoners are not permitted to patronize Alderson, West Virginia area businesses.[21]

The facility allows weekend visits, but special hours are available for holidays.[15] In prior years the families of inmates were allowed past visiting rooms only on Thanksgiving Day when they they could also share in a holiday feast for $1.75.[15]

Notable inmates

Name Number Status Details
Monica Conyers 43693-039 Held in FPC, Alderson[22] Former Detroit City Council member and the wife of U.S. Congressman John Conyers.
Lolita Lebrón 22167-069 imprisoned 1954–1979[23] Attack the United States House of Representatives in 1954.
Velvalee Dickinson imprisoned 1944–1951[24] American convicted of espionage against the United States on behalf of Japan.
Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme 06075-180 Held in FPC, Alderson[25] Member of the Manson Family. Attempted to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford in 1975.
Sandra Good 02971-171 imprisoned 1980–85[26] A long-time member of the Manson Family.
Iva Toguri D'Aquino (aka Tokyo Rose) Held in FPC, Alderson[27] American citizen who participated in English-language propaganda broadcast transmitted by Radio Tokyo to Allied soldiers in the South Pacific during World War II.
Mildred Gillars (aka Axis Sally) imprisoned 1950–56[28][29] American who supplied propaganda broadcasts for Nazi Germany.
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn imprisoned 1955–57[30] American leftist leader and co-founder of American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a Smith Act political prisoner
Claudia Jones imprisoned 1955–57[31] Trinidadian-born child-immigrant journalist and National Executive member of the Communist Party of the United States, a Smith Act political prisoner. After release, deported to the United Kingdom, founded the Notting Hill Carnival
Billie Holiday imprisoned 1947-48[32] American jazz singer and songwriter arrested for possession of narcotics on May 19, 1947 and sentenced to serve a year and a day, but released for good behavior on March 16, 1948.
Sara Jane Moore 04851-180 imprisoned 1975-78, in 1979 she escaped and was recaptured hours later[33] Attempted to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford on September 22, 1975.
Meg Scott Phipps 23786-056 Held in FPC, Alderson[34] Commissioner of Agriculture for the state of North Carolina from 2001 to 2003.
Esther Reed 40024-424 Held in FPC, Alderson[35] American convicted on fraud and identity theft charges.
Martha Stewart 55170-054 imprisoned October 8, 2004 [18]- March 4, 2005 American business magnate, television host, author, and magazine publisher. Convicted of lying in her testimony about Insider trading

References

  1. ^ Bosworth, Mary (2002). The U.S. federal prison system. Sage. p. 140. ISBN 9780761923046. 
  2. ^ a b "Martha's Prison Thanksgiving". Highbeam (The Cincinnati Post). 24 November 2004. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-125332430.html. Retrieved 17 July 2011. "Mullins said the prison dormitories are in Summers County" 
  3. ^ Federal Bureau of Prisons (8 October 2004). "Martha Stewart Begins Service of Sentence". http://www.bop.gov/news/press/press_releases/ipaprmsarrival.pdf. Retrieved 17 July 2011. 
  4. ^ "Higgins, Marguerite (9 October 2004). "Welcome to Alderson; Stewart began her 5 months before dawn at W.Va. prison". Goliath (The Washington Times). http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-849399/Welcome-to-Alderson-Stewart-began.html. Retrieved 17 July 2011. 
  5. ^ a b c Johnson, Paula C. (2004). Inner lives: voices of African American women in prison. New York University Press. p. 313. ISBN 9780814742556. http://books.google.com/books?id=7mkMQh9ZMhsC&pg=PA313&dq=Federal+prisons+for+women+also+lagged+behind+their+male+counterparts. Retrieved 17 July 2011. 
  6. ^ a b Sicherman, Barbara; Green, Carol Hurd. Notable American women: the modern period : a biographical dictionary. 4. p. 736. http://books.google.com/books?id=CfGHM9KU7aEC&pg=PA736&dq=energy+resourcefulness+led+establishment+West+Virginia+Alderson+first+federal+prison+women+first+warden+MARY+HARRIS. Retrieved 17 July 2011. 
  7. ^ Keller, Julia (1 October 2004). "It's a gosh-darned good thing: Stewart heads to West Virginia". Chicago Tribune. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/703554631.html?dids=703554631:703554631&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT. Retrieved 17 July 2011. 
  8. ^ a b Marks, Alexandra (8 October 2004). "The prison that Martha Stewart will call home". The Christian Science Monitor. http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1008/p01s01-usju.html. Retrieved 17 July 2011. 
  9. ^ Roberts, John Walter (1994). Escaping prison myths: selected topics in the history of federal corrections. American University Press. p. 51. ISBN 9781879383272. http://books.google.com/books?id=8pbaAAAAMAAJ&q=Despite+the+later+bureau+mythology+that+Alderson+opened+its+doors+with+moonshining+women+from+the+hills+of+West+Virginia. Retrieved 17 July 2011. 
  10. ^ Heinemann, Sue (1995). Timelines of American women's history. Penguin Group. p. 155. ISBN 9780399519864. http://books.google.com/books?id=5kjkZjvnI-sC&pg=PA155&dq=Alderson+a+model+for+prison+reform+it+was+styled+after+a+boarding+school. Retrieved 17 July 2011. 
  11. ^ a b American Correctional Association (1993). Female offenders: meeting needs of a neglected population. p. 18. ISBN 9780929310862. http://books.google.com/books?id=SmBHAAAAMAAJ&q=Located+in+rural+West+Virginia,+Alderson+consisted+of+fourteen+cottages+(offenders+were+segregated+by+race)+built. Retrieved 17, July 2011. 
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  13. ^ "FPC Alderson Contact Information". Federal Bureau of Prisons. http://www.bop.gov/DataSource/execute/dsFacilityAddressLoc?start=y&facilityCode=ald. Retrieved 2 October 2011. 
  14. ^ "FPC Alderson". Federal Bureau of Prison. http://www.bop.gov/locations/institutions/ald/index.jsp. Retrieved 17 July 2011. 
  15. ^ a b c Helderman, Rosalind S. (24 November 2004). "Domestic Diva to Spend Thanksgiving Inside - Turkey, Few Trimmings For Jailed Media Mogul". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8664-2004Nov23.html. Retrieved 17 July 2011. 
  16. ^ "FPC Alderson Inmate Handbook". Federal Prison Camp Alderson. 10 November 2010. p. 2. http://www.bop.gov/locations/institutions/ald/ALD_aohandbook.pdf. Retrieved 17 July 2011. 
  17. ^ a b Thompson, Anne (7 October 2004). "Ultimate planner set to lose control of her life: Martha Stewart won't mistake 'Camp Cupcake' for the Hamptons". NBC News. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6196954/. Retrieved 17 July 2011. 
  18. ^ a b de Vries, Lloyd (20 September 2005). "How Martha Coped At 'Yale'". CBS News. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/09/20/entertainment/main860422.shtml. Retrieved 17 July 2011. 
  19. ^ Meier, Barry (30 September 2004). "Martha Stewart Assigned to Prison in West Virginia". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05E5D81538F933A0575AC0A9629C8B63. Retrieved 17 July 2011. 
  20. ^ Crawford, Krysten (29 September 2004). "Martha going to 'Camp Cupcake'". CNN/Money. http://money.cnn.com/2004/09/29/news/newsmakers/martha/index.htm. Retrieved 17 July 2011. 
  21. ^ Keller, Julia (1 October 2004). "It's a gosh-darned good thing: Stewart heads to West Virginia". Chicago Tribune. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/703554631.html?dids=703554631:703554631&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT. Retrieved 17 July 2011. "They're forbidden to frequent Alderson businesses, so Simms has never trimmed a..." 
  22. ^ Catallo, Heather (11 April 2011). "In handwritten letter from prison Monica Conyers asks for change to her sentence". WXYZ action news. http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/region/detroit/monica-conyers-writes-motion-for-reconsideration-of-her-sentence-to-u.s.-district-court-from-prison. Retrieved 17 July 2011. 
  23. ^ Ruíz, Vicki; Korrol, Virginia Sánchez (2006). Latinas in the United States: a historical encyclopedia. 1. Indiana University Press. p. 381. ISBN 9780253346810. http://books.google.com/books?id=_62IjQ-XQScC&pg=PA381&dq=Lolita+Lebrón+Alderson+WV. Retrieved 17 July 2011. 
  24. ^ "Velvalee Dickinson, the "Doll Woman"". FBI. http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/famous-cases/velvalee-dickinson-doll-woman. Retrieved 17 July 2011. 
  25. ^ Craughwell, Thomas J. (2011). Busted: Mugshots and Arrest Records of the Famous and Infamous. Black Dog & Leventhal. p. 156. ISBN 9781579128654. http://books.google.com/books?id=Ll-1WrZvUwsC&pg=PA156&dq=Lynette+Fromme+Alderson+WV. Retrieved 17 July 2011. 
  26. ^ Bugliosi, Vincent; Gentry, Curt (2001). Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders. Norton. p. 662. ISBN 9780393322231. http://books.google.com/books?id=cwf7fqxjRigC&pg=PA662&dq=Sandra+Good+served+ten+years+(five+of+which+Alderson). Retrieved 17 July 2011. 
  27. ^ Weatherford, Doris (2009). American women during World War II: an encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis. p. 433. ISBN 9780415994750. http://books.google.com/books?id=F5wukQLkavoC&pg=PA433&dq=Iva+Toguri+D'Aquino+Alderson+WV. Retrieved 17 July 2011. 
  28. ^ Lucas, Richard (2010). Axis Sally: The American Voice of Nazi Germany. Casemate Publishers. pp. 223, 292. ISBN 9781935149439. http://books.google.com/books?id=mcbRtSJ2EDkC&pg=PA223&dq=Mildred+Gillars+Alderson+WV. Retrieved 17 July 2011. 
  29. ^ "Obituaries: Mildred Gillars, 87, Axis Sally During War". The New York Times. 1 July 1988. http://www.nytimes.com/1988/07/01/obituaries/mildred-gillars-87-axis-sally-during-war.html. Retrieved 17 July 2011. 
  30. ^ Flynn, Elizabeth Gurley (1963). The Alderson story: my life as a political prisoner. International Publishers. 
  31. ^ "Claudia Jones". Black History Month. http://www.blackhistorymonthuk.co.uk/features/claudia_jones.html. Retrieved 29 October 2011. 
  32. ^ Alagna, Magdalena (2003). Billie Holiday. Rosen Publishing. pp. 60–70. ISBN 9780823936403. http://books.google.com/books?id=lh3rwxxv2z0C&pg=PT72&dq=Billie+Holiday+Alderson+WV. Retrieved 17 July 2011. 
  33. ^ "Sara Jane Moore Flees, Is Caught". Los Angeles Times. 6 February 1979. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/649221072.html?dids=649221072:649221072&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Feb+06%2C+1979&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=Sara+Jane+Moore+Flees%2C+Is+Caught. Retrieved 17 July 2011. 
  34. ^ Stern, Remy (21 May 2005). "The Martha Stewart Visitors Guide". New York Magazine. http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/columns/intelligencer/10072/. Retrieved 17 July 2011. 
  35. ^ "Esther Elizabet Reed (sic)". Federal Bureau of Prisons. http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=NameSearch&needingMoreList=false&FirstName=esther&Middle=&LastName=reed&Race=U&Sex=U&Age=&x=82&y=9. Retrieved 17 July 2011. 

External links

West Virginia portal
Government of the United States portal
Criminal justice portal 
Media related to Federal Prison Camp, Alderson at Wikimedia Commons