Giallombardo, Rose (1925–1993)

Esther Heffernan

Rose Giallombardo is best known for her research on the inmate culture of a women's prison. Her 1966 book, Society of Women: A Study of a Women's Prison , helped raise questions about the degree to which studies based on field work in men's institutions were applicable to women. Giallombardo argued that women respond to the pains of imprisonment by re-creating traditional family roles among the inmate population. These informal systems sustain women's emotional need for social relationships and are shaped by their perception of female role expectations. Giallombardo's study ensured that gender issues could not be overlooked in prison research. Her findings continue to be cited in subsequent works that examine similarities and differences between male and female prisons and prisoners. Giallombardo completed her doctoral work at Northwestern University in 1965. Her dissertation, based on one year's ethnographic study at the Federal Reformatory for Women at Alderson, was published ...

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