Ohio Reformatory for Women inmate portrait   Save
Photographs of inmates, staff, and buildings, ca. 1935-1965
Description: Dated ca. 1940-1965, this photograph shows an inmate at the Ohio Reformatory for Women applying makeup, one of the privileges instituted by Marguerite Reilley. In 1911, the Ohio General Assembly authorized the establishment of a separate women’s penal institution. On September 1, 1916, the Ohio Reformatory for Women opened in Marysville, Ohio, with a population of 34 inmates. When Marguerite Reilley was appointed superintendent of the Reformatory in 1935, she found dirty and unkempt inmates with excessively restricted living habits. She instituted the “human being” program which provided recreation, entertainment, jobs, and vocational training for the inmates. State Archived Series 1679 AV consists of 234 photographs which illustrate daily life in the Ohio Reformatory for Women, as well as photographs of the buildings and grounds, superintendents Marguerite Reilley and Martha Wheeler, and notorious inmate Velma West. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1679AV_B01_F06_004
Subjects: Photography--Ohio; Ohio Reformatory for Women; Prisons; Ohio History--State and Local Government--Corrections
Places: Marysville (Ohio); Union County (Ohio)