Wilma Scheider

Associated Press · [ca. September 1975]

San Quentin, Calif. -- The first day Wilma Schneider showed up for work as a guard at San Quentin Prison, she wore a pink pants suit. There were no uniforms for women guards at the time. Mrs. Schneider, an attractive 32-year-old mother of three, was the first woman correctional officer in the 124-year history of San Quentin. "When the inmates saw me," she said yesterday, recalling her first day on the job, "one guy fell down the stairs." Then one convict on an upper tier shouted, "Look up here, honey, and smile." With that, the spell was broken and she had little trouble working with the inmates. Her trouble, she said, was with many of the prison's younger guards, whom she said treated her with animosity. "When they saw that I could do their jobs, it really blew their egos," said Mrs. Schneider, known as "Willie" at San Quentin. She hung on to the job for two-and-a-half years, but then she quit recently. "I quit for the same reason I came [...]