In the middle of New York City's courthouses and nearby financial district stands a nondescript, modern building.

Most passersby ignore it; others assume it's a place where one might get a driver's license renewed.

In fact, it is the infamous Manhattan House of Detention. In "the Tombs," as it has been called for more than 100 years, more than half the staff is female.

These women work in a dizzying maze of intake areas, cells, holding pens, hallways and adjacent courtrooms.

Women have come a long way in Corrections; they are part of the elite and set the standard for women in the field throughout the U.S.