Clinton Correctional Facility Explained

Prison Name:Clinton Correctional Facility
Location:Dannemora, New York
Coordinates:44.7236°N -73.7208°W
Status:Operational
Classification:Maximum
Capacity:2,959
Population:2,865
Populationdate:December 2003
Managed By:New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision

Clinton Correctional Facility is a New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision maximum security state prison for men located in the Village of Dannemora, New York.[1] [2] The prison is sometimes colloquially referred to as Dannemora (having once served as a massive insane asylum named Dannemora State Hospital for the Criminally Insane), although its name is derived from its location in Clinton County, New York. The southern perimeter wall of the prison borders New York State Route 374. Church of St. Dismas, the Good Thief, a church built by inmates, is located within the walls. The prison is sometimes referred to as New York's Little Siberia, due to the cold winters in Dannemora and the isolation of the upstate area. It is the largest maximum-security prison and the third-oldest prison in New York. The staff includes about 1,000 officers and supervisors.[3] [4]

In the post-Furman v. Georgia period and prior to the 2007 repeal of the death penalty, it housed New York State's death row for men.[5] [6]

History

Built in 1844, the prison originally served as a site where prisoners were used to supply labor to local mines in both Dannemora and nearby Lyon Mountain. This enterprise was not profitable, and by 1877, mining had ended with the prisoners being put to work on other trades.

As the population grew and more prisoners were housed there, in 1887, authorities had new 60-foot-high walls built, which still stand. In 1892, the first prisoner was executed in the electric chair at the prison. Twenty-six men were executed between 1892 and 1913. This period also had many prisoners cured of tuberculosis, due in part to the clean air in the Adirondacks. As at the time antibiotics were not available to treat the frequently fatal disease, prisoners diagnosed with it were frequently transferred from other prisons.

In 1899, a mental health facility, the Dannemora State Hospital, was built on the grounds to house prisoners who became insane while serving their sentences. Such prisoners were retained in the facility if they remained insane following the completion of their sentences.[7]

In 1929, Clinton Correctional was the site of a riot. Coupled with riots in other prisons in that year, it led to prison reform in New York. Included was the construction of schools in the prison and the renovation or rebuilding of most of the structures within the prison walls to update the facilities to modern standards.

The Church of St. Dismas, the Good Thief was built from 1939 to 1941. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991 as a significant structure. In the later half of the 20th century, the prison's mental institutions closed and were converted into an annex to house more prisoners.

On June 6, 2015, inmates Richard Matt and David Sweat, both serving sentences for murder, escaped from the facility. Two prison employees, Joyce Mitchell and Gene Palmer, were charged with aiding the escape. During the search, on June 26, Matt was shot and killed by a Border Patrol agent in the town of Malone, New York. Two days later, Sweat was shot by New York state trooper Jay Cook, and subsequently captured. In the days after the escape, some prisoners reported having been beaten by guards in an attempt to obtain information as to the whereabouts and plans of the escaped inmates.[8]

Notable inmates

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. "Dannemora village, New York." U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on September 2, 2010.
  2. "Dannemora town, Clinton County, New York." U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on September 2, 2010.
  3. News: Schwirtz. Michael. Winerip. Michael. Gebeloff. Robert. The Scourge of Racial Bias in New York State's Prisons. 4 December 2016. New York Times. 3 December 2016.
  4. Book: Walsh. James J.. History of Medicine in New York - Three Centuries of Medical Progress. 1919. National Americana Society. New York, N.Y.. October 4, 2015. 712.
  5. "Inmate 99-B-0067" . New York State Department of Correctional Services. January 16, 1999. Retrieved on September 2, 2010. Quote: "Monroe County Sheriff's Department officers transported Mateo at 4:45 a.m. today to the maximum-security Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora in Clinton County, location of the Unit for Condemned Prisoners (UCP) who are male[...]The UCP at Clinton has been physically operable for use since August 31, 1995, the day before the death penalty law took effect, as has a similar three-cell UCP for females at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Westchester County plus the single-cell death house at Green Haven Correctional Facility in Stormville in Dutchess County. Neither of the two latter units will be staffed until there are inmates on them."
  6. "Repeal of Death Sentence Regulations (Section 103.45 of 7 NYCRR)" . New York State Department of Correctional Services. Retrieved on September 2, 2010. "Repeal regulations requiring death sentence warrants to be provided to the Commissioner and persons sentenced to death to be delivered to Clinton and Bedford Hills Correctional Facilities (death row)[...]"
  7. Web site: Facility Profile: Clinton. January 1999. DOCS/TODAY. NYCHS. 8 June 2010.
  8. News: After 2 Killers Fled, New York Prisoners Say, Beatings Were Next. Schwirtz. Michael. 2015-08-11. Winerip. Michael. The New York Times. 0362-4331. 2016-07-15.
  9. Book: Timothy J. Gilfoyle. A Pickpocket's Tale: The Underworld of Nineteenth-Century New York. W. W. Norton Company. 2006. 978-0393329896.
  10. Web site: Jesse Friedman's Story . freejesse.net . 22 January 2022.
  11. Book: Gooley, Lawrence P.. Terror in the Adirondacks: The True Story of Serial Killer Robert F. Garrow. 2009. Bloated Toe Publishing. 978-0-9795741-3-9. Peru, NY.
  12. https://nysdoccslookup.doccs.ny.gov/
  13. Web site: Slavemaster. Gado. Mark. Crime Library. 12. 8 June 2010. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20080517175240/http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/sexual_assault/john_jamelske/12.html. 17 May 2008.
  14. March 7, 2006 Press Release . . March 7, 2006 . 2007-05-17 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070621120519/http://www.co.suffolk.ny.us/da/press/2006/03_07_06_02.htm . 2007-06-21 .
  15. Web site: NYS Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. nysdoccslookup.doccs.ny.gov.
  16. https://genius.com/2pac-picture-me-rollin-lyrics
  17. Sutton W, Linn E: Where the Money Was: The Memoirs of a Bank Robber. Viking Press (1976), p. 160.

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