In the earliest penal institutions, men and women prisoners lived together and were watched over by men. Even after prisons were segregated in separate parts of the prison in the late eighteenth century, the women were still guarded by men. More times than not, women inmates were controlled by the hands of their male keepers. The female prisoners were often raped in the prisons by the male custodians. The wardens of the prisons would often force the women inmates into prostitution.
Disturbed by the conditions that existed, U.S. and England early nineteenth century prison reformers proposed the creation of separate reformatories for female offenders, which would be administered and staffed entirely by women. (Journal of CJ: Linda Zupan) They thought by employing a woman only staff would eliminate sexual abuse, and the exploitation of female prisoners would be prevented. They also thought by doing this the female staff would set a moral example of "true womanhood" for the female prisoners to follow. Finally, they thought the female staff would by sympathetic towards the women inmates. .
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many state legislatures agreed on the idea to create separate prison for women offenders. Laws were made requiring that these prisons be staffed and administered by women only. Things did not work as planed though. Due to a shortage of qualified women to manage and administer the prisons those laws were repealed. Because those laws were repealed the door of opportunity opened for men to serve as wardens in prisons for women.
The men that were employed by these prisons were given restrictions to what they were allowed to do at the prisons. For example, in 1966 the male guards at the Federal Reformatory for women in Alderson, West Virginia did jobs that did not involve the women inmates. Supervising exterior gates, delivering supplies to the living units, and patrolling the grounds of the prison were the type of jobs the male guards did.
