The Accidental Warden: My unexpected year as Warden of the California Women’s Prison

Brook Carey
iUniverse (2008)
ISBN 9780595481668
Reviewed by Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson for Reader Views (7/08) 


Brook Carey’s “The Accidental Warden” is an absolutely fascinating insider’s view into the mysteries and the reality of the women’s prison, the system and the challenges she faced back in 1975 when she was selected to serve as the CIW Warden. She had no previous experience in the correctional facilities and received no formal training. Actually, as she describes it herself, her training consisted of being handed a bunch of keys and a paperback copy of the book dealing with Charles Manson. What she did have, however, were excellent organizational and administrative skills, compassion, thirst for knowledge and courage.

If you are like me, your “knowledge” of the prisons is based on Hollywood; and you probably think all prisons are the same. Brook Carey dispels any of such preconceived notions, both by telling the story of what a real women’s prison looks like, how much more limited their resources were – at least back in 1975 – compared to the facilities housing male inmates; and what unique challenges faced a warden dealing with a female prison population. Ranging from silly, such as the population’s preference for rather sleazy, if low-quality underwear, to the trials of dealing with the fans of the “Manson girls” incarcerated there and the riot happening just before Christmas, Carey was ill-prepared for any of those challenges and had absolutely minimal, if any support from her “bosses,” including the Governor of California who had to consent to her appointment.

While riveting in their stark honesty, many of the segments in the book sound flat. The readability of this book would have been greatly enhanced with the use of a good copy-editor. The rather unconventional use of punctuation, especially when dealing with the dialogue, does not enhance the reading experience either. Ms. Carey’s insistence in determining and naming the race of nearly every person she mentions in her accounts is slightly unsettling, since she categorically states over and over that she is not a racist. Omitting that would not harm the stories told in any way – it really does not matter if the resident complaining about the food was African-American, Caucasian or a Martian.

As fascinating as I found this unique book, it saddens me that it was written more than 30-years after Brook Carey’s courageous entry into the rather disheartening administration of the correctional facility. The reader has no way of knowing which of her planned or proposed changes were actually implemented and whether the system has changed for the better at all. While I find “The Accidental Warden” a brave book even after those three decades, I believe it could have made significantly bigger impact if written and published much sooner.

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