Elmira Correctional Facility

Elmira Correctional Facility is a maximum security institution receiving first offender male felons 21 to 30 years old by direct commitment from the courts. It also receives youths from the Reception Center, usually ages 18 to 20, who have a more serious background, but who show good potential for rehabilitation. Construction of this institution was approved by the legislature in 1871 (Chapter 715), and it opened in 1876 as the New York State Reformatory at Elmira. Elmira's authority and functions were established by the legislature in the Laws of 1877, Chapter 173. The institution maintained its original name until 1933 when it was changed to the Elmira Reformatory (Ch. 151). In 1970, the name of the institution was changed to its present name of Elmira Correctional Facility. From its opening in 1876 to the end of the early 20th century, Elmira was one of the most important penal institutions in the country. Conceived by Zebulon R. Brockway, a prominent penologist who served as the institution's first superintendent, the philosophy of the institution was that prisoners could be, and should be, reformed. This reform was to be obtained through individualized treatment aimed at physical, intellectual, industrial, and moral training. Elmira was the first correctional institution of its kind in the country where the term of confinement depended upon the observable progress made by the prisoner. All sentences were indefinite with the maximum being the period specified in the Penal Law for the particular crime. The minimum term was a period fixed by the Board of Managers based on the inmate's previous criminal record and his conduct, work and school progress while at Elmira. The institution is also credited with introducing parole as a regular part of correctional programs in this country. The program at Elmira was highly publicized and many other states followed New York's lead by establishing similar adult reformatories throughout the 1880's and 1890's. In many areas, however, there was a wide disparity between the publicized success and reality at Elmira. A number of investigations by the State Legislature and the State Board of Charities soon showed patterns of neglect by reformatory officials including the regular use of brutal punishments and abuses of the main components of the Elmira system such as indeterminate sentencing, the mark system, parole, and vocational education opportunity. The investigations also found widespread violence, drug use, suicide, homosexuality and other patterns of institutional breakdown. While conditions at Elmira may not have been unusual for similar institutions at the time, the investigations pointed up severe deficiencies in the application of the adult reformatory concept. While changes at Elmira finally took place by the end of the century, the institution never recovered from earlier abuses and the institution's supervisors became increasingly skeptical of the ability of adult reformatories to rehabilitate criminals. From Elmira's establishment until 1926, it was directed by a Board of Managers that included several members appointed by the governor and approved by the Senate. A Superintendent responsible to the Board managed the daily operations of the institution. In 1906 (Chapter 684), the legislature created a State Board of Managers of Reformatories to manage both Elmira and the Eastern New York Reformatory at Napanoch. During its first two decades, Elmira was under the general supervision of the State Board of Charities. In 1894, it was placed under the jurisdiction of the State Commission of Prisons until 1926, when the legislature created a Department of Correction and placed the management of Elmira under a Commissioner of Correction (Chapter 606). This law also changed the Board of Managers to a Board of Visitors. This Board of Visitors continued to act as the Board of Parole until 1932 (Chapter 457), when a separate Board of Parole was established within the Executive Department. Since 1970, the Elmira Correctional Facility has been under the administration of the Department of Correctional Services which succeeded the Department of Correction in that year.