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The $26.1 million, 120-cell minimum- and medium-security facility is expected to be complete in March and to open June 1, Murphy said. It will house female inmates from Hampshire, Hampden, Franklin and Berkshire counties and most cells can hold as many as two women. The original plan of 176 cells was scaled back because of cost. Murphy said she is not sure whether the additional 56 cells will ever be built.

Women prisoners in the state's western counties, with the exception of Berkshire, are now incarcerated at the Hampden Jail and House of Correction in Ludlow, a co-ed jail. Murphy is now working out of the jail in Ludlow.

But mixing the sexes is not conducive to women's rehabilitation, which is a main reason the Chicopee jail is being built. Although men and women are kept apart, women are exposed to ''very objectionable comments'' through the ventilation system or when they have to pass by men for medical and other appointments, according to Sally Johnson Van Wright, who will be the jail's assistant superintendent.

''It's a really harsh environment,'' Johnson Van Wright said. ''The male inmates are not always kind or respectful to the female inmates.'' The men at Ludlow outnumber the women 10 or 11 to 1.

As to those who oppose the opening of the Chicopee jail, Johnson Van Wright said, ''If they understood more what it's like for a woman in a men's prison I really believe they would want women to be in a separate place so if a court says a woman has to be in jail she shouldn't have to be around male inmates.''

The jail is the first women's facility to be built in the state in 125 years.

Johnson Van Wright, of South Hadley, has worked at the Ludlow jail for 12 years. She has a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Smith College and a master's in social work from Springfield College. She began working in corrections after an internship at the jail showed her that it could be a place to empower women, she said.

''I really didn't think jail would be such a place,'' Johnson Van Wright said. She mentioned a phrase she heard the other day: We incarcerate to set free.

The jail will feature a vocational program, educational opportunities and other services.

Murphy, the superintendent, has a master's degree in criminal justice from American International College and a doctorate in education from the University of Massachusetts. She worked for the Department of Youth Services and the Robert F. Kennedy Action Core for 22 years.

For the past 12 years she has worked for Hampden County Sheriff Michael Ashe at the Western Mass. Correctional Alcohol Center.
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