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EDNA MAHAN<br />
Born in California, Edna Mahan was educated at the<br />
University of California and did graduate work within the<br />
state Bureau of Juvenile Research and Traveler's Aid. At<br />
age 24, she was named superintendent of the Los Angeles<br />
<strong>County</strong> Detention Home. Three years later, she became<br />
the superintendent at the Correctional Facility for <strong>Women</strong> in<br />
Clinton, NJ, (known locally as Clinton Farms) where she<br />
spent the rest of her life.<br />
For 40 years, Miss Mahan devoted herself to the<br />
humane rehabilitation of the women placed in her charge.<br />
During her tenure, she became an internationally known<br />
figure in the field of penology. Her philosophy of building<br />
personal restraint and responsibility along with a feeling of<br />
self-worth in her inmates won her the undying respect of<br />
her "girls." Hers was an open prison, run on trust and love<br />
rather than severe punishment -- and it worked.<br />
On her death in 1975, a former inmate wrote: "I loved and respected her more than<br />
any other human being on earth. She gave me back my life, when literally speaking, it<br />
was over. Just by having faith in me when I didn't have any in myself...."<br />
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