Clinton Correctional Facility

Clinton Correctional Facility
Map
LocationDannemora, New York
Coordinates44°43′25″N 73°43′15″W / 44.7236°N 73.7208°W / 44.7236; -73.7208
StatusOperational
Security classMaximum
Capacity2,959
Population2,865 (as of December 2003)
Opened1845 (1845)
Managed byNew 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]

  1. ^ "Dannemora village, New York[dead link]." U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on September 2, 2010.
  2. ^ "Dannemora town, Clinton County, New York[dead link]." U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on September 2, 2010.
  3. ^ Schwirtz, Michael; Winerip, Michael; Gebeloff, Robert (December 3, 2016). "The Scourge of Racial Bias in New York State's Prisons". New York Times. Retrieved December 4, 2016.
  4. ^ Walsh, James J. (1919). History of Medicine in New York - Three Centuries of Medical Progress. New York, N.Y.: National Americana Society. p. 712. Retrieved October 4, 2015.
  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)[...]"