Auburn Correctional Facility

Due to serious overpopulation of Newgate, New York's first state prison, the state legislature in 1816 authorized the creation of a commission to secure a site in Auburn for a second state prison similar to Newgate. The commissioners were appropriated {dollar}20,000 for the purchase of the land and were required to submit a plan of the proposed prison to the chancellor and judges of the Supreme Court for approval before construction began (Chapter 85, Laws of 1816). By 1818 the prison was ready to house inmates. Chapter 211, Laws of 1818 required the state commissioners on construction to transfer supervision of the prison to a Board of Inspectors consisting of five residents of Auburn appointed for two years by the Governor and the Senate. The act also provided for the construction of a building to house inmates in solitary cells. This building, completed in 1821, became the model for American prisons. Chapter 83 of the Laws of 1819 required physicians and surgeons to keep a register of all deceased convicts, stating name, age, place of birth, time of death, cause of death, disease and other pertinent data deemed necessary. In addition the agent of the prison was to report to the secretary of state the name of each convict pardoned or discharged, the crimes for which convicted, term of imprisonment, county in which tried, age and description, and in cases of pardon, the unexpired time of original sentence, when the pardon was granted, and the conditions upon which the pardon was granted. By 1823, the "Auburn system", upon which many later prisons in the United States were based, was in practice. The system provided for the separate confinement of each prisoner in silence in his own cell at night, and for employment during the day in total silence, except when conversation was necessary. Silence was rigidly enforced at all times with the lash being the penalty for violation. Interest in the new system was so high that prison officials charged 12.5 cents for admission and later raised the fee to 25 cents. For those prisoners incarcerated to solitary confinement under the provisions of Chapter 160 of the Laws of 1823, the agent at Auburn was required to make a report containing the prisoner's name, the duration, severity, and extent of his or her solitary confinement, and the character and conduct of the prisoner, as well as a copy of the certificate of the prisoner's conviction(s), when and where convicted, and for what offense. In 1825 Auburn Prison opened an attic story for the detention of female felons from the western part of New York State. It appears that women were incarcerated in this structure until 1874 when they were transferred to the old Insane Asylum which had been constructed in 1857 and was adjacent to the prison. Women prisoners were detained here until 1931 when they were transferred to Bedford Hills Reformatory for Women (Chapter 434, Laws of 1931). Until 1846, the supervision of Auburn Prison was entrusted to the Board of Inspectors. The constitution of 1846 changed this system by providing for the election of three inspectors of state prisons. These men were granted supervisory powers over Auburn prison as well as other state prisons and appointed all prison officers. The day-to-day supervision of the prison belonged to an agent and a warden appointed by the inspectors. The agent purchased supplies, negotiated and controlled contracts, and oversaw financial matters. According to Chapter 459 of the Laws of 1847, the agent was to provide the inspectors a full account, accompanied by the necessary vouchers of all monies received and expanded by him on account of the prison. He was also mandated to send to the comptroller a general account of the receipts and expenditures for each month and an abstract of the expenditures in detail. The warden supervised the overall operation of the prison. He was to keep a daily journal of the proceedings of the prison in which every infraction of prison rules and regulations by prison officials was recorded. In addition, records were to be kept recording every punishment inflicted on a convict, the nature, amount, and by whom, and convict complaints regarding bad or insufficient food, lack of clothing, or cruel and unjust treatment by a prison keeper. In addition to these records, the prison keepers were to keep a correct daily account of the labor of each convict. The doctors and chaplains were required to make reports to state inspectors and keep a daily record of all admissions. Except for the razing and erection of buildings within the prison, the establishment and elimination of inmate programs reflecting correctional theories of different eras, and fluctuations in the number and composition of the inmate population, the history of Auburn and other state prisons is essentially the same, the only real change occuring in the administration of the prison. In November 1877, the electorate approved of a constitutional amendment creating the office of Superintendent of Prisons and abolishing the system of supervision of state prisons by elected prison inspectors. The superintendent was appointed by the governor and was empowered to appoint all of the officials connected with New York's prisons. These officials were mandated to generate records as required by Chapter 107 of the Laws of 1877 which in essence was a rewording of the 1847 statute. In 1926, Chapter 606 reorganized the state government and established the Department of Correction. This law provided for a Commissioner of Correction to assume the powers of the Superintendent of Prisons and to generate records required by the 1847 and 1877 laws. The statute also provided for the continuation of the New York State Commission of Prisons (now renamed the Commission of Correction) which had been established in 1895 to aid the Superintendent of Prisons in the supervision of the facilities through regular site inspections. Laws of 1970, Chapter 475 established the Department of Correctional Services. This organization places the State's prisons under the supervision of the Commissioner of Correctional Services who appoints the superintendents of prisons (formerly wardens). The commissioner is mandated by law to "prescribe a system of accounts and records to be kept at each correctional facility" and to "make rules and regulations for a record of photographs and other means of identifying each inmate received into the facility". The enabling legislation also requires the daily recording of fiscal matters and proceedings by the superintendent to be submitted on daily and annual dates to the Commissioner. This section of the law is very similar to the 1847 statute that originally mandated what records would be kept.