The Women's House of Detention was constructed in the Art Deco architectural style without exterior iron bars

Overview Debates Related claims Topics

Prior to the American Civil War, incarceration facilities in the United States primarily held white men

Prior to the American Civil War, detention and punishment for women and people of color were largely administered through the nuclear family or enslavers

The Women's House of Detention housed a substantial population of queer women and transgender men

The first organized public protest conducted by the Gay Liberation Front targeted the Women's House of Detention

Melvin Van Peebles composed the album Br'er Soul inspired by conversations between incarcerated women at the Women's House of Detention and street pedestrians

Nineteenth-century social feminists advocated for institutions designed to compel incarcerated women to conform to traditional feminine roles

During the June 1969 Stonewall riots, incarcerated women inside the Women's House of Detention threw burning cigarette packets and papers out their windows while shouting 'gay rights.'

Budget reductions during the Great Depression eliminated planned full-scale medical and psychological facilities prior to the opening of the Women's House of Detention

Staff at the Women's House of Detention stamped the letter D on uniforms of women incarcerated for homosexual acts or perceived butch gender expression

Historian Hugh Ryan authored 'The Women's House of D: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison.'

In the late 1800s, Black women and working-class women deemed unfeminine were frequently arrested for prostitution or disorder

Women discharged from the Women's House of Detention were routinely released onto the street with only five or ten cents

In 1928, the Mayor of New York City approved construction of the city's first women-only prison to replace a demolished facility in Greenwich Village

Greenwich Village pedestrians on weekend nights regularly spoke with women incarcerated in the upper stories of the Women's House of Detention

In the early 1970s, approximately 300,000 individuals were incarcerated in the United States

During the 1990s, a new correctional facility opened in rural regions of the United States roughly every 15 days

The Women's House of Detention opened in 1932 with two psychological staff members serving an incarcerated population of 600 women

Black Panther Party leader Afeni Shakur was incarcerated inside the Women's House of Detention during the first night of the Stonewall riots in June 1969

During the 1950s, women incarcerated in the Women's House of Detention threw burning blankets from the facility's windows to protest conditions

In 1971, women incarcerated at the Women's House of Detention were transferred to a correctional facility on Rikers Island