![FPCAldersonDorm](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/FPCAldersonDorm.jpg)
The Federal Prison Camp, Alderson (FPC Alderson) is a minimum-security United States
federal prison for female inmates in
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...
. It is operated by the
Federal Bureau of Prisons
The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Justice that is responsible for the care, custody, and control of incarcerated individuals who have committed federal crimes; that i ...
, a division of the
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United Stat ...
.
FPC Alderson is in two West Virginia counties, near the town of
Alderson. A portion of the prison is in
unincorporated Unincorporated may refer to:
* Unincorporated area, land not governed by a local municipality
* Unincorporated entity, a type of organization
* Unincorporated territories of the United States, territories under U.S. jurisdiction, to which Congress ...
Monroe County Monroe County may refer to seventeen counties in the United States, all named for James Monroe:
* Monroe County, Alabama
*Monroe County, Arkansas
* Monroe County, Florida
* Monroe County, Georgia
*Monroe County, Illinois
*Monroe County, Indian ...
, while the other portion of the prison, including the dormitories, is in unincorporated
Summers County
Summers County is a county located in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 11,959. Its county seat is Hinton. The county was created by an act of the West Virginia Legislature on February 27, 1871, from pa ...
.
The majority of the prison is in Summers County. Four other area towns,
Hinton,
Lewisburg,
Ronceverte, and
White Sulphur Springs, are within commuting distance of FPC Alderson.
History
![FPCAldersonTopographical](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/FPCAldersonTopographical.PNG)
In the 1920s, there was a shortage of federal prison space for female inmates.
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.
Mabel Walker Willebrandt, the
Assistant U.S. Attorney General
Many of the divisions and offices of the United States Department of Justice are headed by an assistant attorney general.
The president of the United States appoints individuals to the position of assistant attorney general with the advice and ...
, first encouraged establishment of a facility for women.
FPC Alderson, which opened on April 30, 1927, as the Federal Industrial Institute for Women,
was the first federal women's prison in the United States. It was opened during a reform movement in the 1920s to help reform female offenders.
The first warden, Mary B. Harris, was chosen by Mabel Willebrandt.
Despite later bureau mythology that Alderson opened its doors with
moonshining
Moonshine is high-proof liquor that is usually produced illegally. The name was derived from a tradition of creating the alcohol during the nighttime, thereby avoiding detection. In the first decades of the 21st century, commercial dist ...
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. The West Virginia location was chosen as it was remote enough from major population centers that potential escapes would be less likely while it had sufficient proximity to the American capital.
Serving as a model for prison reform at the time, it was styled after a
boarding school offering education with no armed guards. The facility followed a reformatory model with no fenced grounds.
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.
The offenders segregated by race in the cottages and each building contained a kitchen and rooms for about thirty women.
The vast majority of the women were imprisoned for drug and alcohol charges imposed during the Prohibition era.
Facility
![AldersonAerial](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/AldersonAerial.PNG)
FPC Alderson is a facility and is the largest employer in the
Alderson, West Virginia
Alderson is a town in Greenbrier and Monroe counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia, on both sides of the Greenbrier River. The population was 975 at the 2020 census.
History
Alderson is a community located along the Greenbrier River in ...
area.
["] The prison is about a five-hour driving distance from
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
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.
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. 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 recreational activities such as
volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...
.
Most of the inmates at FPC Alderson have been convicted of non-violent or
white-collar crime
The term "white-collar crime" refers to financially motivated, nonviolent or non-directly violent crime committed by individuals, businesses and government professionals. It was first defined by the sociologist Edwin Sutherland in 1939 as "a ...
. Many are in the drug program and have come from other prisons to attend the program at Alderson. They sleep in
bunk bed
A bunk bed is a type of bed in which one bed frame is stacked on top of another, allowing two or more beds to occupy the floor space usually required by just one. They are commonly seen on ships, in the military, and in hostels, Dormitory, dor ...
s in two large
dormitories
A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or university s ...
. The dormitories hold 500 plus inmates a piece. Each inmate sleeps in a
cinderblock
A concrete masonry unit (CMU) is a standard-size rectangular block used in building construction. CMUs are some of the most versatile building products available because of the wide variety of appearances that can be achieved using them.
Tho ...
cube inside of this open dormitory.
The prison was nicknamed "Camp
Cupcake
A cupcake (also British English: fairy cake; Hiberno-English: bun) is a small cake designed to serve one person, which may be baked in a small thin paper or aluminum cup. As with larger cakes, frosting and other cake decorations such as frui ...
" by members of the news media when
Martha Stewart
Martha Helen Stewart (, ; born August 3, 1941) is an American retail businesswoman, writer, and television personality. As founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, she gained success through a variety of business ventures, encompassing pu ...
was sentenced to a five-month term there
and was referred to as "
Yale
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
" by Stewart herself.
Local residents have also referred to it as "the college campus."
By 2004, according to Alexandra Marks of ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
'', the operating model for Alderson followed "a punitive rather than a rehabilitative model".
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 two dormitories with 500 inmates each. Inmates live in two person cubicles instead of traditional barred prison cells.
As of 2004, most prisoners at Alderson were convicted of
recreational drug-related offenses. Esther Heffernan, a sociology professor at
Edgewood College
Edgewood College is a private Dominican college in Madison, Wisconsin. The college occupies a campus overlooking the shores of Lake Wingra.
History
The Edgewood College property was bought in 1855 by Mr. Ashmead from Governor Leonard J. Farwe ...
, 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. Prisoners are not permitted to patronize Alderson, West Virginia area businesses.
The facility allows weekend visits, but special hours are available for holidays.
In prior years the families of inmates were allowed past visiting rooms only on
Thanksgiving Day
Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden and ...
when they could also share in a holiday feast for $1.75.
FPC Alderson was one of six federal and state prisons participating in the Paws4prisons service dog training program. This program allowed inmates the opportunity to interact and work with dogs. This included an academic curriculum where inmates first learn how to train "shelter-rescue dogs" and then progress to developing highly trained assistance dogs.
Notable inmates (current and former)
* Inmates released from custody prior to 1982 are not listed on the Federal Bureau of Prisons website.
Violent criminals
Espionage, Smith Act and "Supporting the Enemy in Wartime" prisoners
Corrupt public officials
Financial criminals
Others
See also
*
Incarceration in the United States
Incarceration in the United States is a primary form of punishment and rehabilitation for the commission of felony and other offenses. The United States has the largest prison population in the world, and the highest per-capita incarceratio ...
*
List of U.S. federal prisons
The Federal Bureau of Prisons classifies prisons into seven categories:
* United States penitentiaries
* Federal correctional institutions
* Private correctional institutions
* Federal prison camps
* Administrative facilities
* Federal correctio ...
References
External links
*
FPC Alderson–
Federal Bureau of Prisons
The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Justice that is responsible for the care, custody, and control of incarcerated individuals who have committed federal crimes; that i ...
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{{Women's prisons in the United States
Alderson, Federal
Alderson
Alderson, Federal
Alderson, Federal
Alderson, Federal
Historic American Buildings Survey in West Virginia
1928 establishments in West Virginia
Women in West Virginia