NCJ Number
164801
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 58 Issue: 7 Dated: (December 1996) Pages: 28-30
Date Published
1996
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article profiles the volunteer corrections work of Maud Ballington Booth (1865-1948), who was a co-founder of Volunteers of America.
Abstract
Maud Booth's 52-year prison ministry and reform crusade is believed to have begun at Sing Sing prison on Sunday, May 24, 1896. She had been invited by the warden to conduct a chapel service. At that time she promised to help inmates rebuild their lives after release from prison. To fulfill this promise, she opened what is believed to be the Nation's first halfway house for released inmates, Hope Hall No. 1 in the Bronx. Before the end of the year, Hope Halls had been established in Chicago and San Francisco. Others soon followed in Columbus, Ohio; New Orleans; Waco, Tex.; Walla Walla, Wash.; and Hampton, Fla. The halls were mostly large Victorian houses with a home-like atmosphere, including libraries and billiard and smoking rooms. Hope Halls were open to any ex-convict regardless of race, creed, or past crimes. The residents were required to maintain the house and gardens, refrain from alcohol, look for permanent work during the day, and be back at the hall by nightfall. The system was supported by lecture fees from Mrs. Booth's national speaking tours and by inmates. At Sing Sing, she formed the Volunteer Prison League, a membership organization of inmates determined to make good. The League grew rapidly. By 1897 more than 2,000 members were recorded in eight State prisons; and after 15 years, the membership had increased to 60,000 inmates. The reforms she championed were meaningful work, prison libraries, schools and health care facilities, and an end to degrading practices such as the silent system, striped uniforms, and the ball and chain. Her insistence on personal responsibility and spiritual transformation seemed obsolete with the onset of behaviorist concepts of conditioned behavior, but she persisted in her insistence that offenders must be held accountable for both their crimes and their rehabilitation. Her most lasting legacy is the ongoing work of Volunteers of America in the rehabilitation of ex-offenders.