Clinton Correctional Facility

Clinton Correctional Facility
Location Dannemora, New York
Coordinates 44°43′25″N 73°43′15″W / 44.7236°N 73.7208°W / 44.7236; -73.7208Coordinates: 44°43′25″N 73°43′15″W / 44.7236°N 73.7208°W / 44.7236; -73.7208
Status Operational
Security class Maximum
Capacity 2,959
Population 2,865 (as of December 2003)
Opened 1845 (1845)
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 itself is sometimes colloquially referred to as Dannemora, although its actual 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 climate in Dannemora and the isolation of the area. It is the largest maximum security prison and the third oldest prison in New York. The staff includes about a thousand guards.[3]

In the post-Furman v. Georgia period and prior to 2008, it housed the New York State death row for men.[4][5]

History

Built in 1844, it originally served as a site where prisoners were used to work in local mines in both Dannemora and nearby Lyon Mountain. This enterprise would not be profitable, and by 1877, mining had ended, and the prisoners were put to work on other trades. With this change, the prison experienced growth, and in 1887 it was given new concrete walls 60 feet tall that still stand. In 1892, the first prisoner was executed in the electric chair at the prison, beginning the use of capital punishment at Clinton Correctional. Twenty six men were executed between 1892 and 1913. This period also saw many prisoners cured of tuberculosis due in part to the clean air in the Adirondacks, leading to the importation of prisoners with this disease 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 sentence. Such prisoners were retained in the facility if they remained insane following the completion of their sentence.[6]

Southern perimeter wall, 2007

In 1929, Clinton Correctional witnessed a riot which, coupled with riots in other prisons in that year, led to prison reform in New York State. This led to the building of schools in the prison, and the renovation or rebuilding of most of the structures within the prison walls, making the facility more modern. 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.[7] 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. On June 26, Matt was shot and killed by a Vermont border patrol agent in the town of Malone, New York. Two days later, Sweat was shot by a New York State Trooper 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

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. ↑ Schwirtz, Michael; Winerip, Michael; Gebeloff, Robert (3 December 2016). "The Scourge of Racial Bias in New York State's Prisons". New York TImes. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  4. ↑ "Inmate 99-B-0067" (). New York State Department of Correctional Services. Saturday January 16, 1999. Retrieved on September 2, 2010."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."
  5. ↑ "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)[...]"
  6. ↑ "Facility Profile: Clinton". DOCS/TODAY. NYCHS. January 1999. Retrieved 8 June 2010.
  7. ↑ National Park Service (2009-03-13). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  8. ↑ Schwirtz, Michael; Winerip, Michael (2015-08-11). "After 2 Killers Fled, New York Prisoners Say, Beatings Were Next". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-07-15.
  9. ↑ Gooley, Lawrence P. (2009). Terror in the Adirondacks: The True Story of Serial Killer Robert F. Garrow. Peru, NY: Bloated Toe Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9795741-3-9.
  10. ↑ Gado, Mark. "Slavemaster". Crime Library. p. 12. Retrieved 8 June 2010.
  11. ↑ "March 7, 2006 Press Release" (Press release). Suffolk County, New York. March 7, 2006. Archived from the original on 2007-06-21. Retrieved 2007-05-17.
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