Kate Richards O’Hare: When Missouri State Penitentiary met its match

From Prison Cell to America’s Reform Champion

Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City locked up America’s most dangerous criminals for 168 years. In 1919, it also held Kate Richards O’Hare, a socialist mother of four who gave one anti-war speech too many.

She was sentenced to five years hard labor under the Espionage Act, even though she denied saying American women were just “brood sows” for the military.

The prison was brutal – eighty women shared three bathtubs with no separation between sick and healthy inmates. O’Hare survived fourteen months and turned her nightmare into America’s prison reform movement.

Her story shows how one woman’s suffering behind these walls changed corrections nationwide.

The 76th Speech That Landed Her in Jail

Kate Richards O’Hare gave her anti-war talk “Socialism and the War” for the 76th time on July 17, 1917, in Bowman, North Dakota.

Justice Department agents who watched her previous 75 talks never thought she broke any laws, but this time was different.

They arrested her for supposedly calling American women “brood sows raising children to become army fertilizer,” though she said she never used those words.

Local political fights in Bowman, not her actual speech, sparked her arrest.

Convicted Under a Law Meant to Silence War Critics

A Bismarck court found O’Hare guilty under the 1917 Espionage Act on December 14, 1917. The judge gave her a tough five-year prison sentence.

When Judge Martin J. Wade sentenced her, O’Hare calmly told him there might be “a bigger work for me to do” in prison than on the lecture circuit. She later tried to appeal her case to the U.S. Supreme Court but lost her fight for freedom.

Welcome to America’s Most Brutal Prison

O’Hare entered Missouri State Penitentiary on April 15, 1919, since no federal women’s prisons existed then. She wrote to her husband that she walked in “quite as calmly as I have registered at hundreds of hotels.”

But this was no hotel – people called it “the most wretched and crowded prison in the country.”

Built in 1836, it was the oldest working prison west of the Mississippi River, known for cruelty and awful conditions.

Eighty Women Shared Just Three Bathtubs

Female inmates lived in dirty, cramped cells and had to stay quiet except during their one-hour free time.

O’Hare quickly noticed how backward the prison was – sick prisoners lived right next to healthy ones, spreading illness. About 80 women shared only three bathtubs with no separation between sick and healthy inmates.

Prison rules stopped O’Hare from talking with her husband and four children, cutting her off from family support.

Forced to Work 50-Hour Weeks Making Clothes

The prison made O’Hare work 50 hours weekly in clothing factories – five and a half days of nine to ten hours each.

She later wrote: “The amount of labor demanded is just about enough to wear the average woman out and send her forth a wreck.”

Every inmate had to do contract work six days a week for private companies under harsh conditions. O’Hare called it what it was – “scab labor” that used prisoners while hurting free workers outside.

Her Cell Neighbor Was Famous Anarchist Emma Goldman

In prison, O’Hare met anarchists Emma Goldman and Gabriella Segata Antolini.

Goldman lived in the cell next to hers, and these two women from different radical movements became close friends despite their political differences.

The government locked up Goldman for fighting against the military draft.

Together they tried to help other women in the prison, forming an unlikely team that crossed political lines to fix the terrible conditions they all faced.

Small Victories Changed Daily Life for Women Prisoners

O’Hare and Goldman worked together to make prison life better. They got officials to add extra shower baths for women who previously had almost no way to stay clean.

O’Hare also talked the prison into letting women use the prison library, giving them access to books and knowledge they never had before.

When she tried to start a night school for inmates, officials said no and took away her notes about prison conditions.

Letters Home Became Her Weapon Against Injustice

From April 20, 1919, to April 8, 1920, O’Hare wrote detailed letters to her family about prison life. At first, rules limited her to one five-page letter per week.

Later she earned “Class A” status, allowing three letters weekly.

Her husband published these letters as “Kate O’Hare’s Prison Letters” (1919) and “In Prison” (1920) while she still sat behind bars.

These books kept her case in the public eye and showed Americans the truth about prison conditions.

Public Pressure Forced the President’s Hand

A nationwide campaign finally got President Woodrow Wilson to cut O’Hare’s sentence in May 1920. She walked free after serving 14 months of her five-year term.

Later, President Calvin Coolidge gave her a full pardon, clearing her name completely.

On July 2nd after her release, she visited fellow socialist Eugene V.Debs at Atlanta Federal Penitentiary, bringing him support from socialists across the country.

A Mother Led Children to the White House Gates

O’Hare published her prison memoir “In Prison,” showing the awful conditions she lived through. In April 1922, she organized the “Children’s Crusade,” leading kids and women across the country to Washington DC.

With ACLU support, they stood at the White House gates for almost two months before President Harding finally met with them. Their steady campaign worked – many political prisoners got released thanks to their efforts.

From Prisoner to Prison Reform Leader

California appointed O’Hare as assistant director of the Department of Penology from 1939-1940.

Her prison reform work transformed California’s penal system, with many of her changes spreading throughout the country.

Her campaign helped pass the Hawes-Cooper Bill in 1929, which ended the exploitative contract prison labor system she had suffered under.

O’Hare died on January 11, 1948, having spent the rest of her life fighting to fix America’s broken prisons.

Visiting Missouri State Penitentiary

You can tour Missouri State Penitentiary at 115 Lafayette Street in Jefferson City from March through November. Kids must be at least 10 years old to visit.

Book your tour at MissouriPenTours. com or call 866-998-6998. The tour includes the gas chamber where 40 inmates died.

Check out the Missouri State Penitentiary Museum next door for $2, or get free admission with your tour ticket.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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