Status open Phone +1 914-241-3010 Opened 1973 | Security class medium Capacity 502 | |
Location 250 Harris Road
Bedford Hills, New York Managed by New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision Address 250 Harris Rd, Bedford Hills, NY 10507, USA District New York State Department Of Correctional Services School District Similar Downstate Correctio Library, New York Corrections Departme, Rikers Island Correctio, Westches County Correction, FCI Danbury | ||
Taconic Correctional Facility is a medium security women's prison in Bedford Hills, New York that is operated by the New York State Department of Corrections. It is associated with the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, a maximum security women's prison. In 1901 it opened as the 'New York State Reformatory for Women' between the ages of 15 and 30. The then Department of Corrections took over the administration of the reformatory in 1926 and, in 1933 it was merged it with the newly opened 'Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for women'. For the next four decades, the reformatory operated as part of Bedford Hills, still the state’s only maximum-security prison for females. In 1973, Taconic began operations as an autonomous medium-security prison. During 1971 and 1972, Bedford Hills was a correctional facility with separate male and female units. In 1973 the male inmates were transferred before the unit closed in June; the unit reopened in December as the Taconic Correctional Facility.
Educational Programs
Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison, a not-for-profit organization was founded to provide college education to incarcerated people in an effort to help reduce recidivism and poverty, while strengthening families and communities. In 1998, as part of the get-tough-on-crime campaign, state and federal funding for college programs inside prison was stopped. Understanding the positive effects of education in the transformation and rehabilitation of incarcerated people, inmates at Sing Sing Correctional Facility reached out to religious and academic volunteers to develop a college-degree granting program. Under the leadership of Dr. Anne Reissner, Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison was founded to restore college education at Sing Sing through private funding. Hudson Link now runs pre-college and college degree programs at Fishkill, Greene, Sing Sing, Sullivan, and Taconic Correctional Facilities.