Mabel Luella Bourne Bassett (August 16, 1876 – August 2, 1953) was a Democratic

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

politician who served as the state's Commissioner of Charities and Corrections from 1923 until 1947.

Early life

Mabel Bourne was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, the daughter of Stephen Bourne and Martha E. Yourlin Bourne. She graduated from high school in

Billings, Montana Billings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County and the principal city of the Billings Metrop ...

. She lived in

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as a young woman, and moved to Sapulpa, Oklahoma in 1902. She took courses at the Missouri School of Social Work in St. Louis.

Career

Prior to seeking political office, Bassett founded the

Creek County Creek County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2010 census, the population was 69,967. Its county seat is Sapulpa. Creek County is part of the Tulsa, OK Metropolitan Statistical Area. History European explorers tr ...

Humane Society, one of the first humane societies in Oklahoma. During

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, she was executive secretary of the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

. Once in office as Commissioner of Charities and Corrections, Bassett was responsible for establishing a women's unit of the

Oklahoma State Penitentiary The Oklahoma State Penitentiary, nicknamed "Big Mac", is a prison of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections located in McAlester, Oklahoma, on . Opened in 1908 with 50 inmates in makeshift facilities, today the prison holds more than 750 male off ...

and transferring African-American juvenile delinquents from the state penitentiary to a training school in

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. In 1923, she issued a report on abusive and negligent conditions at the Pauls Valley Training School, a juvenile detention facility. "The people of Oklahoma want the truth," she said of her reform campaign. "They do not want their little boys flogged by drunken guards and I shall see that it is stopped, regardless of what is thrown in my path." In 1936, she investigated the death of an 11-year-old boy who died attempting to escape a fourth-floor jail cell in Stillwater. Bassett also campaigned for a seat in the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

in 1932; however, she lost to fellow Democrat

Will Rogers William Penn Adair Rogers (November 4, 1879 – August 15, 1935) was an American vaudeville performer, actor, and humorous social commentator. He was born as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, in the Indian Territory (now part of Oklahoma ...

. She ran for a Congressional seat again in 1940. Buck Cook replaced Bassett as Commissioner of Charities and Corrections in 1947, at which point Bassett retired from politics, and ran a cattle farm in

Guthrie, Oklahoma Guthrie is a city and county seat in Logan County, Oklahoma, United States, and a part of the Oklahoma City Metroplex. The population was 10,191 at the 2010 census, a 2.7 percent increase from the figure of 9,925 in the 2000 census. First kno ...

. From 1930 to 1931, Bassett was vice-president of the

American Prison Association The American Correctional Association (ACA; called the National Prison Association before 1954) is a private, non-profit, non-governmental trade association and accrediting body for the corrections industry, the oldest and largest such associati ...

Personal life, death, and legacy

Bourne married train conductor Joseph L. Bassett in 1890, and had three children. Her daughter died in 1935. Upon her Bassett's death from cancer in 1953, in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

, her body lay in state in the Oklahoma State Capitol. Oklahoma's Mabel Bassett Correctional Center is named for Bassett.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bassett, Mabel 1876 births 1953 deaths People from Sapulpa, Oklahoma Women in Oklahoma politics Oklahoma Commissioners of Charities and Corrections Oklahoma Democrats