Western House of Refuge
House of RefugeFirst buildings for areformatory institution forwomen built on this 97 acresite in 1892 cost $62,000capacity of 150 inmatesOrleans Co Community Pride
Quick Facts:
Constructed: 1892 at cost of $62,000.
Added Buildings: 1893 at cost of $30,000.
Situated on 97 acres of land.
1st Superintendent: Mary K. Boyd
Timeline:
1893 - Facility Opens.
1923 - Becomes Albion State Training School.
1926 - Oversight of institution transitions from State Board of Charities to State Corrections Department.
1931 (Jul) - Becomes Institution for Mentally Defective Delinquent Women.
1931 (Aug) - Dr. Gordon Wiley becomes 1st male head of institution.
1932 - Investigation reveals buildings are in poor condition, over $1.5 million earmarked for construction of new buildings.
1957 - Western Reformatory for Women established on same property, operated by different agency.
1967 - Narcotic Rehabilitation Center opens on property.
1970 - Reformatory becomes the Western Correctional Facility and the training school becomes the Albion State Institution.
1971 - Both institutions merge and for the Albion Correctional Facility.
Nearly 125 years ago, the Western House of Refuge was constructed on farmland located west of the village of Albion. It was largely due to the work of E. K. Hart that this location was selected as the site for this new establishment, which was opened on December 8, 1893. For nearly a month, the institution went without receiving a single inmate until the first woman was “brought in” during the early part of January 1894.
The House of Refuge provides insight into an interesting period in the U.S. penal system. Women ages 16 to 30 who were charged with crimes ranging from petit larceny to public intoxication, prostitution, or “waywardness” would find themselves confined to the Refuge for a period of three to five years. During a time when crimes of a sexual nature, such as prostitution, provided a double standard in society between males and females, women were sent to the House of Refuge by cuckolded husbands or families.
In its earliest years the House of Refuge would have fit the character of a minimum security institution where the grounds were surrounded by a short fence, far from the chain-link fence and razor wire used at prisons today. The goal of the institution was to train women in the various domestic duties assumed by good wives and housekeepers. The fundamental belief was that by providing a basic grade-school education along with vocational training in sewing, knitting, cooking, laundry, and good etiquette, women would be well equipped to marry or enter into employment as a housekeeper upon their release.
