1971
INMATE POPULATION JUNE 30, 1971: 9,530
FIRST FEMALE WARDEN
Anabel Mitchell becomes the
first female
warden at a major prison in Florida for
men and women and the first
female Parole Commissioner in
our state.
She began her career in corrections as a Probation and Parole secretary, became a Classification Supervisor and worked her way up to Assistant Superintendent and eventually Superintendent (or Warden) at Florida Correctional Institution at Lowell. In 2001 she became Anabell Mitchell-Wainwright when she married Louie L. Wainwright, Sr., the first (and longest-serving) Corrections Secretary.
In February a series of riots and disturbances occur at Florida State Prison, in both the Main Unit and the East Unit. The rioting, which continues for approximately a week, leaves five officers injured, 74 inmates injured and $2,000 worth of property damage to the facility.
Below are comments from the Director of the Division of Corrections found in the February/March, 1971 Correctional Compass:
COMMENTS FROM DIRECTOR WAINWRIGHT
The February disturbance at FSP is now history and should serve as a lesson to us all. When correctional institutions become too large, overcrowded, and inmates are frustrated by inadequate financing of parole field staff and institutional salaries are low, even the most constructive treatment program may not insure tranquility. The FSP inmate unrest in February probably did not help their cause or ours, but merely distracted attention from the underlying problems which are still there.
To quote from an editorial in the Tallahassee Democrat [February 16, 1971]: "However, . . . conditions in the Florida prison system are not what the people and the officials of state government want them to be. It is true that our prisons are badly overcrowded, that the guards are poorly paid . . . and that consideration of paroles could be speeded up if the Parole Commission had more money to hire additional competent interviewers and supervisors. Prison and parole officials have made pleas to the Legislature time and again for more funds to correct these deficiencies."
Those of us in the Central Office will continue to cooperate with Governor Askew and Legislative leaders in an attempt to provide the desperately needed funds. Meanwhile, let us all try to benefit from this experience and get on with the immediate tasks at hand.
--- Louie L. Wainwright
Aftermath of 1971 prison riot at Raiford. (Photo courtesy of FPC.)
Aftermath of 1971 prison riot at Raiford. (Photo courtesy of FPC.)
Aftermath of 1971 prison riot at Raiford. (Photo courtesy of FPC.)
Aftermath of 1971 prison riot at Raiford. (Photo courtesy of FPC.)
Florida Correctional Institution, Florida's only female prison, publishes a brochure that covers facts such as the institutional theme song ("Nothing is Impossible"), the parade float created in 1970 and the new data processing center. The 24-page brochure also provides information on orientation, classification, activities, counseling, supervision, education, religious, recreation, arts and music, and medical services. To read this brochure online, download the 13MB brochure (Acrobat PDF file).
Governor Reubin Askew (center foreground), Louie Wainwright (center left) and others inspect Death Row at Raiford Prison. James A. Bax (far left) is the state Director of Rehabilitative Services and later, in July 1971, he will be appointed to the position of Commissioner of the Community Services Administration by President Nixon. (January 23, 1971 photo courtesy of FPC.)
