New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision

Commissioners

Mission

The mission of NYSDOCCS is to provide for public protection by administering a network of correctional facilities that:

History

The New York State prison system had its beginnings in 1797 with a single prison called Newgate located in New York City. A second state prison opened 20 years later in Auburn in 1817, and in 1825 a group of Auburn prisoners made the voyage across the Erie Canal and down the Hudson River to begin building Sing Sing.

The state commissioned architect Alfred Hopkins to design three major institutions built between 1933 and 1935: Wallkill Correctional Facility, Woodbourne Correctional Facility and Coxsackie Correctional Facility. All three were designed on progressive principles, reflected a concern for aesthetics and a sense of place, and had no surrounding walls or fences. That has changed.

Between its founding and the year 1973, New York had operated only 18 prisons. After the new focus on prison administration brought by the Attica Prison riot in September 1971, and a new influx of prisoners created by the new stricter Rockefeller Drug Laws starting in 1973, the corrections system was forced to expand dramatically. Corrections acquired a number of older state-owned properties from other agencies during the 1970s, some with expansive acreage and Edwardian structures, such as the Adirondack Correctional Facility in 1971 (originally the Ray Brook Sanatorium, founded in 1904) the Otisville Correctional Facility in 1976 (on the grounds of a former tuberculosis sanitarium founded in 1906), and the Mount McGregor Correctional Facility in 1976 (with a varied history since its opening in 1913, operated from 1969 through 1976 as the Wilton State School by the New York State Department of Mental Hygiene).

The growth continued in another way through the 1980s. A huge prison construction initiative took the form of "cookie-cutter" facilities, fifteen different medium-security installations such as Washington Correctional Facility in 1985, built with the same blueprints, the same dorms and messhalls, as Franklin, Mohawk, Bare Hill, etc. Many of the 15 opened in 1988. Two of these, Riverview and Cape Vincent, were initially funded and owned by New York City to shuttle city prisoners by air, as a way to address the city's jail overpopulation crisis.

From its peak in 1999, at 72,649, the total state prison population had dropped to 52,237 by August 1, 2016, a decrease of 28 percent. Rapidly decreasing numbers of inmates has meant many prisons closed, with the loss of jobs in mostly rural communities, and pressure to consolidate further.

As of 2016 New York did not contract with private prisons, according to state law.

Facilities

Characteristics of New York State prisons

In part as a response to the Attica Prison riot of 1971, a number of measures were taken to avoid future confrontations and reduce tensions. All New York State correctional facilities have monthly meetings between elected prisoner representatives and the prison administration, at which prisoners may present their concerns. A grievance process was instituted, by which prisoners may grieve any employee whom they feel is acting in violation of regulations. Packages may be received year-round.

At some medium-security prisons, facilities for conjugal visits are available for carefully selected inmates, including same-sex married couples. New York State is one of only four states with conjugal visits in 2014.

New York State does not have any privately-run prisons, and it runs its own health service to treat prisoners.

New York State has also been the national leader in reducing prison population and closing prisons. The reduction is both due to lower crime rates and to diversion of offenders into alternative programs.

Training of correction officers

Newly appointed Correction Officer Trainees will be required to participate in, and satisfactorily complete, all requirements of a 12-month training program before they can advance to Correction Officer. As part of the program, recruits will attend the Correctional Services Training Academy for a minimum of eight weeks of formal training. Paid training at the Academy will include academic courses in such areas as emergency response procedures, interpersonal communications, firearms, unarmed defensive tactics, legal rights and responsibilities, security procedures, and concepts and issues in corrections. Recruits will also receive rigorous physical training to develop fitness, strength and stamina. To physically qualify, it is necessary to perform seven sequential job related tasks in two minutes and fifteen seconds or less. Failure in any of the tasks will result in the recruit failing to meet the agency qualification standards and, accordingly, being dismissed from the Academy. The test is administered during the final week of the training program at the Academy. A thorough explanation and demonstration of the course, and an opportunity for a trial run, will precede the final test.

Legal power and authority of correction officers

In labor negotiations, the officers are represented by the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association.

New York State correction officers have peace officer status under section 2.10 of the New York State Criminal Procedure Law. This authorizes them:

Death row

Prior to the 2008 repeal of the death penalty, the male death row was at the Clinton Correctional Facility and the female death row was at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility. On October 23, 2007, the New York Court of Appeals ruled in the case People v. John Taylor that the last death sentence must be dismissed based on a previous ruling in the case People v. LaValle.

The last location for the execution chamber was at Green Haven Correctional Facility. The death chamber at Green Haven had never hosted an execution. Previously inmates were executed at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility.

Fallen officers

Since the inception of the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, 32 officers have died in the line of duty.