The Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women, located in St. Gabriel, is home to 1,099 women. The facility is the only women’s state penitentiary in Louisiana. For Monique Christy, a 1986 Nicholls government graduate, spending time at LCIW is just another day on the job.

After graduating from Nicholls, Christy interned for the New Orleans City Council. She did not know then if she would work in corrections, but she did know she wanted to work in government.

“I knew I didn’t want to be a politician; I wanted to be a public servant,” Christy says.

Christy serves as the classification manager at LCIW. As classification manager, her duties range from inmate job placement (pending the severity of the prisoner’s offense) to deciding the prisoner’s housing placement and coordinating visitation rights.

This position requires Christy to be in constant interaction with prisoners.

“I know probably 99 percent of the inmates by name, and all of them by face,” Christy says.

Christy began working at LCIW in 1998. According to Christy, the women’s prison population has been growing.

“In 1998 we had fewer than 900 inmates here. Today, we are at our maximum capacity with 1,099 inmates,” Christy says.

Although those 1,099 inmates are incarcerated for numerous reasons, Christy says 70 percent of the inmates are in LCIW for involvement with drugs, whether they actually sold drugs, committed theft to purchase drugs or prostituted themselves to support their drug habits, Christy says.

Christy says she tries to bring a positive outlook to the inmates, but she must also consider things from a disciplinary aspect.

Christy’s position leaves her straddled between two worlds.

“It’s ideal to rehabilitate, but in actuality our inmates are sentenced to hard labor,” Christy says. “These women are criminals and con artists; they are not here for being girl scouts.”

According to Christy, the institution operates under what is knows as the three “Cs”-care, custody and control.

“We must maintain custody at all costs. Unfortunately, care comes in last,” Christy says.

Christy says her role at the prison is a “humbling experience.”

“I’m the middle person. It’s hard to find a middle ground,” Christy says.

Seeing an abundance of women in the prison who were victims of mental, physical or sexual abuse and who have become offenders and criminals is heartbreaking, Christy says.

“With the amount of abuse the inmates have endured in their childhood, it is no wonder they’re here,” Christy says.

Christy says it is great for people to visit the facility because they can see first hand that it is unlike what is portrayed on television.

“Most people who come here are surprised to see that our compound looks more like a college campus with colorful flowerbeds and quarters than a maximum-security prison, ” Christy says.

Christy says inmates who give tours feel like they’re preventing incarceration and giving back to the community.

On the other hand, people touring the prison can see first-hand what it is like being incarcerated and the effects of separation anxiety.

“It’s important for people to know that approximately 10 percent of our inmates are college graduates or have at least some college education. We have paralegals, registered nurses and business owners. One woman was even a professor,” Christy says.

“It’s a valuable experience for students to see educated and successful people incarcerated and the sad reality that bad things can happen to anyone.