Linda Gilbert

Linda Gilbert (13 May 1847 Rochester, New York – 24 October 1895 Mount Vernon, New York) was a prison reformer. Early in life, she became interested in efforts to improve the condition of prisons and prisoners, and endeavored “to remove the conditions that produce crime, by a wholesome system of industry and culture.” She succeeded in placing in various prisons libraries of from 1,500 to 2,000 volumes each, and aggregating 30,000 volumes. She was educated there at St. Mary's Convent. Her home was opposite the jail of Cook County, Illinois.

At the age of 11, Gilbert lent some books from her grandfather's library to the prisoners there. At 15, she inherited money. When she was 17, she established the first county-jail library there, which featured 4000 books, several oil paintings and an organ for religious services. In 1873, she spoke at the International Penitentiary Congress, citing statistics gathered from her research indicating that very few prisoners were literate or were provided adequate training in a trade to find employment after release. In 1877, Gilbert attended the National Prison Congress, again focussing on discharged prisoners.

Gilbert was compared with Elizabeth B Chase, who was appointed by the Governor of Rhode Island to be prison inspector and spoke at the international prisons congress. There were various appeals to reverse his death sentence, on 1 August 1884, he was killed in a badly managed and drawn-out hanging.

In all, she established 22 libraries in six states. In Lincoln, Nebraska, her books were a means of educating 18-20 Native Americans who were sentenced to long terms. She procured employment for 6,000 ex-convicts, over 500 of whom she started out as peddlers, furnishing them with outfits worth $3–$5; all this was accomplished with less than 10% recidivism. She felt society more responsible than the criminal for crime.