Betty Greenwell Kassulke

Betty Greenwell Kassulke

Betty Greeenwell Kassulke, Louisville (KY) - Beta Gamma, had planned to be a public school teacher when she completed her education degree. Hired as a student assistant to do psychological testing at the Kentucky Correctional Institute for Women, she developed an education program enabling inmates to attain degrees. In 1972, at the age of 25, she became the warden at the women’s facility with 250 inmates and a staff of 80. She has been described as “fair but firm.” For a brief time she served as the interim warden at the Kentucky State Reformatory with 1,658 inmates and a staff of 500. She was the first woman in history to serve as warden of Kentucky corrections’ largest male institution. Betty Kassulke had not planned to go into corrections and felt strongly that she was called by God to her profession, and that God has protected her against any dangers she has faced in her position. She was the 1989 Woman of the Year.