Prison reform

Dorothea Dix

• She helped improve jails for the mentally and disabled
• Many of the women in jails were insane and lived in filthy cells
• She began traveling around the state to research  the conditions in prisons
• Dix wasn't satisfied with just the states improvements 
• So she toured the country documenting the conditions

Dorothea Dix not only helped the mentally ill but also when the Civil War broke out she was a volunteered nurse that was named superintendent of all nurses.

She was responsible for setting up field hospitals, first aid stations, recruiting nurses, etc. After the war she returned to her work on behalf of the mentally ill.

Furthermore Dorothea Dix insisted on equal treatment between the Union and Confederate soldiers which angered some Northern Republicans.