“The plan may be a very good one, to prevent the prostitute being waylaid as she left the hospital by some of her old associates, but it did not seem to occur to the would-be benefactors of the girl that the arrival of a parishioner in charge of a policeman creates a great sensation in a little country community. They did not seem to have contemplated the possibility of the fact that the villagers become curious to learn what Mary Smith has been doing at —; I ventured to suggest to the authorities that the village gossips would probably over their tea hint at her gay doings, and that the young men would not long be idle in ferreting out her antecedents; and the quiet village, notwithstanding all the care of the rector or aid of his good wife, would be made very disagreeable for the fair penitent who had once quitted her home on an evil errand, and it too often happens she will quit it again, no more to return to her native place.” (the Lock Assylum)

As the author points out, if the government prevented these women from leaving unless they were accompanied by a police officer, everyone would grow suspicious of their doings and they would be ostracized, forcing them away from their town and driven down a further path.

Did the government really not intend for these women to be potentially caught in this harsh cycle and not really think it through, or was it a backhanded attempt to keep them away from the rest of society, and force them to be outcasts?