Massachusetts organizers call for no new women’s prisons and an end to their construction

This article was originally published at Prism

When MCI-Framingham (MCI-F), the sole women’s prison in Massachusetts and the oldest operating women’s prison in the country, was established in 1877 as the Sherborn Reformatory for Women, it was a radical experiment in meeting the needs of incarcerated women. The prison was meant to better serve women who, at the time, were imprisoned in the same facilities as men. Designed as cottages, replete with more domestic spaces such as kitchens and living rooms, the prison was meant to protect incarcerated women against gender violence in the co-ed prisons of the time. While ideas about “gender-responsive” corrections and carceral projects designed to meet the unique needs of women have become more mainstream in recent years, MCI-F’s history is a reminder that this approach has existed for centuries. More pressingly, the facility’s current condition and the state’s proposed attempt to address them reflect the shortcomings of “gender-responsive” prisons and the failure of feminism to sufficiently challenge the carceral system itself.