Interesting comment from the audio file at NPR is that the use of washing machines in homes was what brought an end to the Magdalene Asylums. Because the girls were made to work at cleaning dirty laundry six days a week, when people stopped taking their laundry to the asylums to be washed, they Asylums had nothing to force the girls to do. I wonder how many families ever knew of the cruelty they supported in sending their wash to be done there.