[6] Four other area towns, Hinton, Lewisburg, Ronceverte, and White Sulphur Springs, are within commuting distance of FPC Alderson.

Prison staff and fellow inmates sexually exploited girls and women who were incarcerated in these facilities.

[8] Mabel Walker Willebrandt, then an Assistant U.S. Attorney General, first encouraged establishment of a facility for women.

[13] The West Virginia location was chosen as it was remote enough from major population centers to reduce potential escapes, while it was reasonably close to the U.S.

[14] The vast majority of the women were imprisoned for drug and alcohol charges imposed during the Prohibition era.

[15] Esther Heffernan, a sociology professor at Edgewood College, said that throughout history the inmates included "relatives of famous mobsters and grandmotherly women who embezzled money from banks.

Hefferman added that in Alderson, which was a "not undesirable" place to be confined, the isolation from urban life could be stressful for inmates.

Inmates live in two-person cubicles instead of traditional barred prison cells,[22] and sleep in bunk beds.

[20] In prior years the families of inmates were allowed past visiting rooms only on Thanksgiving Day when they could also share in a holiday feast for $1.75.

[20] FPC Alderson was one of six federal and state prisons participating in the Paws4prisons service dog training program.