Rhoda Coffin

(ATTENTION: this page discusses physical, mental, and sexual abuse in prison systems)

Rhoda Johnson Coffin, born February 1, 1826 near Paintersville, Ohio, was the fourth child of wealthy Quaker farmers. Rhoda grew up in a strict household of the traditional Quaker faith. She was always interested in knowing what was happening outside the tight-knit community in which she was raised. She became active in the struggle for or women’s rights and prison reform. While living in Richmond to attend school in 1845, Rhoda met her future husband, Charles Coffin, a local bank president. They later married and had six children.

In 1866, Rhoda and Charles Coffin petitioned Indiana Governor Oliver Morton to create a state institution for troubled boys. In 1867 the House of Refuge for Juvenile Offenders was founded in Plainfield, Indiana. Rhoda’s husband Charles was appointed president of the board of managers. Rhoda Coffin began her prison reform work after learning about unfair treatment of women inmates in the Indiana prison systems. In 1868 she visited a state prison in Jeffersonville, Indiana and learned that women were being sexually abused and that guards would enter the women’s cells to “satisfy their lusts.” After learning about this horrible mistreatment, Rhoda Coffin went to the Indiana legislature and proposed a separate prison for women that was operated by “God-fearing women.” She believed that the best people to care for the needs of women were other women. The Indiana Reformatory Institute for Women and Girls was founded in 1873. It was the first prison in the state to be exclusively operated by women, though there was a darker side to these reforms.

Rhoda Coffin’s work focused around her perspective that these women were “fallen” or “debased”, tainted by whatever crimes they allegedly committed. She believed they needed to be punished, but did not believe prisons managed by men were able to do so. Many first-hand accounts from prisoners at the Indiana Reformatory Institute for Women and Girls spoke of abuse, beatings, severe punishments like solitary confinement for minor infractions, and even denying sick prisoners medicine. While Rhoda Coffin was never convicted on any of these charges, she continued to insist that punishment was necessary for reforming those she considered “fallen women.” 

Rhoda Coffin and her husband moved to Chicago in her later years after the failure of her husband Charles’ bank was blamed primarily on his malpractice and financial crimes. While not convicted, the scandal tainted both Rhoda and Charle’s reputations and largely prevented Rhoda from playing a role in future reform movements. Rhoda Coffin’s legacy is fraught, as while she’s mostly been remembered for her positive role in women’s prison reform, this also needs to be balanced with the understanding of the crimes and abuses carried out against female prisoners under her management.