Worsening Conditions (Historical Marker)

Here follows the inscription written on this trailside historical marker:

Worsening Conditions at the District of Columbia Jail and the Occoquan Workhouse
"The next lot of women who come here won't be treated with the same consideration that these women were."
Raymond Whittaker, Occoquan Workhouse Superintendent, July 1917

Suffragists Endured Inhumane Conditions, Hunger Strikes, and Force-Feeding
As World War I continued, suffragists' banners at the White House became more hostile to the president. Prison sentences increased from 30 days to 60 days. In custody, the suffragists demanded to be treated as "political prisoners" because they had broken no law. It was understood from English tradition that "political prisoners" should have access to lawyers, communication with the outside, and the use of their own clothes. The United States did not recognize the category of "political prisoner." When the suffragists were denied that status, many went on hunger strikes. After the women refused food for a week or more, prison authorities began to force-feed them. Force-feeding involved inserting a tube down the throat and pouring a mixture of raw eggs and milk through a funnel at the top. The victim had to be restrained by several people. If a prisoner clenched her jaws, the tube was forced through her nose. Vomiting frequently occurred during this painful process, leaving the victim ill for hours.

Conditions Differed Between Prison and Jail
The Occoquan Workhouse was intended as a model to reform prisoners by placing them in an open setting. The physical conditions there were cleaner and more updated, being located on a farm established seven years earlier. But the treatment of prisoners, including the suffragists, was extremely brutal. The D.C. Jail building was old, damp, cold, lacking ventilation, odorous and rat-infested. One night, a suffragist beat three rats in a succession off her bed. However, prisoners in the D.C. Jail were not subjected to comparable brutality.

Alice Paul Examined for Insanity
To ensure the campaign continued under strong leadership, Alice Paul avoided arrest herself until October 1917, when the flow of volunteer pickets was strong. Realizing that her arrest would be newsworthy and politically powerful, Paul joined the picket line and was arrested on October 20, 1917. She was held with other suffragists in the D.C. Jail In an unjust attempt to find her insane, she was subjected to a psychiatric examination. The psychiatrist found her sane and willing to die for her cause.

Violent Repression: "The Night of Terror," 1917
"I did not know at the time what happened to the other women. I only knew that it was hell let loose with Whittaker as the instigator of the horror."
Paula Jakobi, suffragist, in her affidavit referring to November 14, 1917

Pickets Protested Alice Paul's Imprisonment, 1917
Alice Paul had been held in the District of Columbia Jail since October 20. On November 10, a group of suffragists called to her through her jail window. They promised her they would picket the next day with banners denouncing her ill treatment. The following day at the White House gates, all pickets were immediately arrested. On November 12 the pickets were dismissed by the court pending further consideration. The women immediately returned to demonstrate to the surprise of the police, who arrested them again. On November 14, all of the women were found guilty of unlawful assembly and were sentenced to 30 to 60 days in the Occoquan Workhouse or required to pay a fine of $25 or $50.

Suffragists Treated Brutally on "The Night of Terror"
Suffragists arrived at the Occoquan Workhouse on the evening of November 14 and made their usual demand for political prisoner status. They refused to give their names. They were told to wait for Superintendent Whittaker to return from a meeting in D.C., as male guards with nightsticks gathered outside. When Whittaker arrived, he immediately had the women seized and dragged through the darkness to another building, where they were bodily slammed into bitterly cold "punishment" cells, three to a cell set up for two people. Suffragist Dorothy Day, who later became an advocate for the poor, was lifted and slammed over a bench on her back. Dora Lewis's head hit a metal bed frame, which knocked her unconscious. Alice Cosu, also in the cell thought Lewis was dead and became quite ill, and it was thought that Cosu had a heart attack. Lucy Burns's writs were shackled to the cell bars above her head so she could hardly breathe and left her there all night. None of the women's injuries was treated that night. When the public learned of this brutal treatment of the suffragists, they were outraged. This climax of prison brutality became a "Turning Point" in the suffrage movement.

Erected 2021 by Turning Point Suffragist Memorial Association. (Marker Number 13/14.)