Ellen Cheney Johnson is the woman who changed how females were treated in the American prison system. Johnson single-handedly made way for women to change their futures after they paid out their dues to society. Through positive reinforcement and strict discipline, Ellen Cheney Johnson showed her prisoners how to be women again.

Early life

Ellen Cheney Johnson was born on Dec 20, 1829 in Athol, Massachusetts

Athol, Massachusetts

Athol is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 11,584 at the 2010 census.-History:Originally called Pequoiag, the area was first settled by five families in September 1735. When the township was incorporated in 1762, the name was changed to Athol...

. She was the daughter of Nathan Cheney (a mill agent) and Rhoda Holbrook. Ellen attended the Academy at Francestown, N.H. She later became a teacher at Weare, N.H. where she was also an alumna.

When she was eighteen she joined a temperance organization. Two years later, she met and married Jesse Johnson from Unity N.H. and moved to Boston, MA.

Early Influences

Her home near the State House in Boston became a meeting place for welfare workers. Ellen founded the New England Women’s Auxiliary Association which in turn led her to an important position in the U.S. Sanitary Commission. She was involved with the executive and finance committees of the New England branch of the commission.

During this time Ellen would visit numerous correctional facilities and helped poor women around Boston so they could better fend for themselves. Throughout all this, Johnson witnessed the abuse which female prisoners had to endure. At this time, female prisoners were not separated from their male counterparts. Neither were the children they brought in with them, or the ones that were born in jail.

Ellen began a crusade for the reform of female treatment in correctional facilities. She and other women gathered at her home and began writing letters to newspapers requesting a separate facility for females. Their letters brought the subject to legislature. They gathered over 7000 signatures which helped pass the bill for an all-female prison in 1874.

In the meantime, Ellen became the leading advocate for the Temporary Asylum of Discharged Female Prisoners in Dedham, MA. The Reformatory Prison for women was finally opened in 1877 in Sherborn, near Framingham, MA. Ellen, being one of the five commissioners for the prison, became the superintendent of the prison.

Career

Johnson believed all women deserved the same opportunities to better themselves for when they were discharged, Johnson made sure they all had the same chances. Ellen instilled in them the importance of discipline. She was known for the strict discipline she imposed on her prisoners. She believed that only through discipline could there be reformation. Punishment, even if severe, was necessary in order for things to run smoothly and for goals to be achieved. This was something she taught her prisoners and something they understood to be necessary.

Ellen created programs inside the prison and outside as well to help the women achieve their goals. Johnson developed a system of indenture for house service in houses outside the prison walls. This was all done under sympathetic supervision.

End of an Era

Ellen ran the prison for fifteen years and was awarded a bronze medal and diploma for her achievements in the prison system by the World’s Columbian Exposition “for evidence of a model management in every detail.” Ellen’s reformatory system has been studied thoroughly and received the highest praise from prison experts. She died suddenly while in London, England after addressing the International Women’s congress on June 28, 1899. Ellen Johnson left money to the city of Boston, Ma to make a fountain in the name of her husband, Jesse Johnson

Westland Gate

Westland Gate is a pair of fountains that borders the Back Bay Fens at the end of Westland Avenue in Boston, MA.-History:...

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