Criminal Diversions: Newspapers, Entertainment, Sport, and Physical Culture in New York Prisons, 1899-1920 Lisa Jorgensen A Thesis In the Department of History Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (History) Concordia University Montreal, Quebec, Canada September 2016 © Lisa Jorgensen, 2016 CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY School of Graduate Studies This is to certify that the thesis prepared By: Lisa Jorgensen Entitled: Criminal Diversions: Newspapers, Entertainment, Sport, and Physical Culture in New York Prisons, 1899-1920 and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (History) complies with the regulations of the University and meets the accepted standards with respect to originality and quality. Signed by the final Examining Committee: Dr. Johanne Sloan Chair Dr. Carrie Rentschler External Examiner Dr. Marc Steinberg External to Program Dr. Rachel Berger Examiner Dr. Gavin Taylor Examiner Dr. Elena Razlogova Thesis Supervisor Approved by Dr. Peter Gossage Chair of Department Dr. Barbara Lorenzowski Graduate Program Director 2016 Dr. André Roy Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science iii ABSTRACT Criminal Diversions: Newspapers, Entertainment, Sport, and Physical Culture in New York Prisons, 1899-1920 Lisa Jorgensen, Ph.D. Concordia University, 2016 Prisons in New York in the early twentieth century were becoming modern institutions. In my dissertation I examine the cultural dimensions of the prison reforms that were part of the progressive era “new penology” movement that fundamentally altered life in prison in this period. In researching this largely neglected area of prison reform, and the particularly neglected period between 1899 and 1913, I have discovered that the major reforms instituted across the prison in the state in 1913 were part of a much more gradual process than previously thought. I argue that the prisoner-produced newspapers, the entertainment and leisure activities, and physical culture programs that were introduced starting in 1899 laid the groundwork for the reforms to come. The prisoners and prison administrators used the recreation programs to present themselves to the public in a positive way, to forge new relationships between the prison workers and the prisoners, and to build new connections between the world of the prison and the world beyond prison walls. These changes led to a period of prisoner self-government that gave prisoners more power in the institution and helped to shape contemporary prison structures. iv Acknowledgements I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the many people who have supported me in completing this project. I would first like to thank my advisor, Elena Razlogova, whose support was invaluable to me. Elena’s expertise in multiple disciplines inspired me to look at my subject from many different critical perspectives. I am especially grateful for her advice about how to better interpret my research and articulate my positions. Many of the ideas and questions that I explored in my dissertation were formulated while I was doing my coursework and my comprehensive field studies. I am particularly indebted to Haidee Wasson and Barbara Lorenzkowski, who helped to shape my thesis in its early stages. It was due to Haidee’s encouragement to think about culture in unexpected contexts that I discovered the rich cultural life in New York prisons at the turn of the century. The knowledge that I gained through working with Barbara on women’s involvement in the progressive movements in America proved to be foundational to my project. Many thanks, also, to Rachel Berger and Gavin Taylor, members of my thesis committee, for giving of their time and for offering valuable advice for my dissertation. In addition, I would like to thank the trusted friends and editors who read my work and provided insightful commentary: Stephanie Belmer, Gordon Aronoff, Katherine Dowie, Jennifer Symansky, and Natalie Foster. There were many friends who deserve thanks for providing much-needed support, encouragement, and advice for my thesis: John McLeod, Ryan Proctor, Nicole Fournier-Sylvester, Finbar Good, Monique Riedel, Maureen Jones, Katie McKenna, Sandra Power, Brian Lewis, Jay Taylor, Aaron Richmond, Rob Lutes, Steve Zylbergold, Oliver Taylor, and Margot Good. Special mention go to Ronnie Blumer and Muffie Myer for their generosity in letting me stay with them while I was doing research in New York City. I am grateful to my family, Beverlee, Niels, and Jeff Jorgensen, for their support and encouragement. And finally, thanks to David, who was there for me from the beginning to the end. Without his help working through ideas and keeping me on track, I would not have been able to complete this project. This thesis was made possible in part by the generous support from the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Sociéte et Culture (FQRSC) and Concordia University. Table of Contents I. Introduction …..……………………………………………….. 1 II. Chapter One: Newspapers …………………………………….. 21 III. Chapter Two: Entertainment and Leisure ……………………... 64 IV. Chapter Three: Masculinity, Sport, and Physical Culture ……..114 V. Chapter Four: Women in Prison …………………….................149 VI. Conclusion …………………………………………………….. 196 VII. Bibliography ……………………………………………………200 Introduction “It is our own fault if we are not understood by the public, for we have a medium through which we may reach the outer world”. From the Star of Hope by prisoner number 321, Auburn Women’s Prison’s Local Editor, January 26, 19011 Prisoner 321’s bold assertion here refers to the first prisoner-produced newspaper in the country, the Star of Hope. The newspaper was one of the first reforms in the New York state prison system that allowed prisoners to communicate and collaborate with one another and with those beyond prison gates. 321 was writing about the newspaper, but her statement applies to all of the cultural and athletic activities that were introduced to prison life in New York state in the early 1900s. These activities were grounded in the idea that prisoners were citizens. The recreational activities in prisons in the New York system during the first decades of the twentieth century were simultaneously gratifying and enjoyable for the prisoners and propaganda tools for both prisoners and prison administrators. All of the activities in the prison, whether it was the newspaper, knitting, vaudeville shows, social dances, baseball games, or film screenings, garnered national and international attention, as well as extensive coverage in the Star of Hope. The coverage of these activities pleased the administrators as it made the prisons appear to be aligned with the progressive principles that were gaining currency in this period, even while the reality of prison life was far removed from these enlightened ideals. For the prisoners, their participation in these activities worked to counter prevailing negative ideas about prisoners and to show them as upstanding citizens who were engaged with politics and ideas as well as popular culture and leisure. In my thesis I am examining all of the cultural, leisure, and athletic activities that took place in men’s and women’s prisons in New York state from 1899- 1920. I chose to investigate New York prisons in this period in order to examine how the early experiments with recreational activities in the prison primed prison administrators, the public, and the prisoners for the more radical changes in prison life that were introduced in 1913. My work contributes to the overall field of carceral studies, which has exploded in the last decade. Scholars exploring the carceral in recent years have been assessing the causes and effects of mass incarceration in America. Michelle Alexander’s book declaring mass incarceration the new Jim Crow has been hugely influential and has shaped contemporary 2 discussions about the state of prisons.2 Kelly Lytle Hernández, Khalil Gibran Muhammad, and Heather Ann Thompson in June 2015 edited the Journal of American History’s special issue on carceral studies, which draws together current scholarship on prison history.3 The issue however, covers only work dealing with the post-1950 period. Regina Kunzel’s Criminal Intimacy, about the history of sex in prison, and Cheryl D. Hick’s Talk With You Like a Woman, about African- American women in the prison system in the early twentieth century, examine life in prison, but the majority of the current work in carceral studies addresses problems around prison rather than what has taken place in prison itself. Scholars are drawing attention to issues around policing, sentencing, and ex-convicts re-integrating to society.4 Some of these scholars, including David M. Oshinsky and Robert Perkison, focus particularly on the American South and the ways in which the criminal justice system has functioned differently there compared to the Northern states. I am especially interested in the pre-1913 forays into breaking with the prison routine and how they changed the relationships between the prisoners and the prison staff and between the world of the prison and the world beyond prison walls. I argue that the early activities, which showed that prisoners could be responsible and were worthy of humane treatment, led the prison administrators to be open to and for the public to support more dramatic prison reform. The reforms introduced in 1913 improved the quality of life for prisoners and gave the inmates some power to organize and even to govern prison operations. Under prisoner self-government, the newspapers, along with the entertainment and athletic activities that once only implicitly called for prison reform, became tools that prisoners explicitly used to generate support for prisoner rights. Through culture and sport, the prisoners created, to borrow Nancy Fraser’s variation on Jurgen Habermas’ concept, an alternative public sphere.5 By 1920, however, the state prison administration had restricted the prisoners’ ability to use prison activities for political purposes. Baseball, movies, and theatre productions were no longer means by which inmates could advocate for prisoner empowerment.