For nearly a century after its opening in 1871, the big prison in the small Central Illinois town of Pontiac operated a farm. This story by contributor William (Bill) Goold tells the history of how the prison farm evolved as the prison itself changed.
Read MorePrison Public Memory Project 2017 intern Sophia Burns takes a deep dive into a fascinating case file from the late 1800s, telling the story of Maud Veach (a.k.a. Sadie Roe), who was incarcerated at the House of Refuge for Women in Hudson, NY in the late 1800s.
Read MoreFrankie Bailey investigates the fascinating history of the first reformatory for women in New York, the House of Refuge for Women in Hudson, NY, and the main historical players behind it.
Read MoreExcerpt from an oral history with Gale Smith, who worked as the assistant superintendent at the NYS Training School for Girls in Hudson, NY.
Read MoreExcerpt from an oral history with Jennifer Vinson, who was incarcerated at the New York State Training School for Girls in Hudson, NY in the 1970s.
Read MoreJohn Mason reports on the history of the gatehouse that sits on the edge of the prison grounds in Hudson, NY.
Read MoreNew York Times reporter Nina Bernstein talks about discovering Ella Fitzgerald's hidden past at the Training School for Girls in Hudson, NY.
Read MoreIn the 1950s, Marion Palfi, an immigrant photographer and member of the New York Photo League, took photographs of girls at the Hudson Training School.
Read MoreExcerpt from our oral history with Thomas Tunney, Superintendent of the New York State Training School for Girls in Hudson, NY from 1964 to 1972.
Read MoreJazz singer Ella Fitzgerald kept secret the cruelest chapter of her own history: her confinement for over a year in a reformatory as an orphaned teenager.
Read MoreThe Prison Public Memory Project uses public history, art, and new media to engage communities in conversation about the roles of prisons in society.
