Thanks for that link, Gary. I was just reading some of the news from there. Very interesting. I saw where one 40 year old woman was arrested for neglecting her children and in the court was sentenced to the house of good shepherd for 6 months. From what I have been reading, I gather it was a womens' prison.

Dear Laurie,
I also remember the Good Shepherd, just as a passerby. I am curious as to how much you know about it. Did you visit? or know someone who was there. It pained me, as a social worker, to read your account. I had no idea it was so horrible. My mother used to tell me that the nuns there took care of girls who had no home. And of course the name, Good Shepherd, makes it sound so kind and charitable. What a shame that these young ladies had no one to advocate for them. And how sad that the community, at large, was not aware of the inner workings of the place. It now, as I recall, was cloaked in secrecy with pieces of glass wrapped around the barbed wire fences-almost like prison.

Since I lived directly across the street on Atlantic Ave and no one ever told me, as young boy, exactly why these young women were sentenced to that institution, I have been very interested in these posts. I took a quick look at the archives of the Brooklyn Eagle and immediately found several articles where civil judges sentenced the girls upon complaints of their parents that they consorted with the wrong crowd or stayed out late. Aside from violations of due process, it is amazing that civil judges routinely sentenced these girls to a religious institution. Sounds quite medieval.

Ken,
I found a mention of public funding in one of the Eagle articles.

Yo Laurie.............can we find out what is your last name.........did you come from or are you still in the neighborhood.

Please, let us know who you are.............

Laurie,

Read what I wrote above, go to the Brooklyn Eagle website Gary posted. Even though the Eagle stories are only up to 1902, the place and others like it were exactly the same until they changed or closed in the U.S. (maybe about the 1960's). If you go to The East New York Project site by Brian Merlis, Zone 1, Good Shepherd you will see a story from a person who did live in that Good Shepherd Home in Brooklyn for a few months (although not as an inmate); she describes it as "scary" and she was right to be scared because, but for the grace of God (and a good priest), she might've become an inmate. Two important things here are: (1) Don't take anyone's word for anything unless you check the facts yourself and (2) Injustice will always exist in one form or another at all times and it's up to those who are not being treated unfairly to try and right things (if at all possible and/or the opportunity presents itself).

Laurie

Laurie....................will we ever know your last name.............I gave my side of the story, I knew someone who worked there, visited them and the Sisters showed nothing but compassion for the women who lived there, end of story..............

Not sure about this home but I did have 2 friends from Sheepshead Bay ordered into St Johns Home for Boys in Rockaway. Yes it was a tough place but it probably saved their lives. It was court ordered.

I was told it was a home for unmarried pregnant girls.