As superintendent, she "relied on traditional methods of discipline" in addition to teaching inmates "some remunerative skills so that they would not be tempted to commit crimes after their release.

[9] Rewards for good merit included working outdoors in the chicken farm or gardens, painting the rooms, and performing other small renovations.

The Handbook noted that the women could benefit from increased organization in prison activities to provide a "wholesome experience in the duties and responsibilities of social living.

[6] The most famous of them was Paula Cooper (#864800),[12] a 15-year-old juvenile sentenced to death on July 11, 1986, for her role in the grisly murder of an elderly neighbor.

[6] While in prison, she continued to make headlines: a bill that raised Indiana's age of execution for murder from 10 to 16 came directly from Paula Cooper's case, as did a bill that made it illegal for jail employees to have sex with inmates after two guards and a recreational therapist were charged with having sex with Cooper while she was in jail awaiting sentencing.

[6] According to data released on September 7, 2006, by the Indiana Department of Corrections, of the prison's 430 inmates, 272 were white, 145 black, 9 Hispanic, 2 American Indian, and 2 Asian/Pacific.

Sarah Jo Pender was in solitary confinement at the Indiana Women's Prison from December 2008 to January 2013, following her escape from the Rockville Correctional Facility.

Melinda Loveless, Laurie Tackett and Hope Rippey, three of four teenage girls involved in the murder of 12-year-old Shanda Sharer in 1992, were also housed in this prison.

When she was convicted of first-degree murder in 1966, the case was called the "single worst crime perpetrated against an individual in Indiana's history".

[citation needed] Montserrate Shirley is an American murderer and insurance fraudster who perpetrated the November 10, 2012 Richmond Hill housing addition insurance fraud scheme explosion, which killed her two neighbors, Dion and Jennifer Longworth, and did over $4 million worth of damage to 80 surrounding homes in the neighborhood.