KELLEY, Joanna (Elizabeth) 1910-2003

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born May 23, 1910, in Muree, India (now in Pakistan); died April 12, 2003, in London, England. Prison director and author. Kelley was a former governor of Holloway Prison, where she was known for making reforms in how women prisoners are treated. She studied economics at Girton College, Cambridge, where she received a B.A. in 1931, before attending the Sorbonne and earning a diplôme pour étrangers in 1932. Working at the Department of Pre-History at the Musée de l'Homme in Paris, France, she was forced to return to England following the German invasion of France. During the first part of World War II Kelley was a youth club leader for her local YWCA, and then, from 1942 to 1947, was a welfare officer in Bath. She next took up a career working at women's prisons, serving as assistant governor at Holloway Prison from 1947 to 1952, as governor of Askham Grange Prison until 1959, and then returning to Holloway Prison from 1959 to 1966. Having a deep concern for the inmates at her prisons, she believed that incarcerated women should be given as much help as possible to prepare them for productive lives after their release. Toward this end, as assistant director of prisons for women from 1967 to 1974 she tried to organize prisons in a way where the inmates could live in family-like groups, but bureaucracy often stood in the way of making her plans a complete success. She outlined her ideas on prison management in two books: When the Gates Shut (1967) and Who Casts the First Stone? (1978). Her work did not go unrecognized; Kelley was names to the Order of the Council of St. George's House from 1971 to 1977, and was a member of the Redundant Churches Committee from 1974 to 1979 and of the Scott Holland Trust from 1978 to 1986. She also was a continuing sponsor of the YWCA.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Guardian (London, England), May 2, 2003, p. 31.

Independent, (London, England), May 6, 2003, p. 16.

Times (London, England), April 22, 2003, p. 28.