Clinton Correctional Facility

Clinton Correctional Facility is a receiving prison, admitting inmates on direct commitment from the courts as well as by transfer from other institutions. The direct court commitments are received from the Third and Fourth Judicial Districts embracing 18 counties. Clinton is a maximum security walled institution for male prisoners convicted of felonies. Clinton prison had its origins with the passage of Chapter 245 of the Laws of 1844 providing for the establishment of a prison for the employment of convicts in the mining and manufacturing of iron. The agent of this prison was authorized to purchase all equipment, mines, land, and water privileges necessary for the mining of iron. Chapter 245 appropriated {dollar}30,00 for the purchase of land and equipment. In 1845 an additional {dollar}75,000 was appropriated to Clinton Prison. From this time until 1865 Clinton Prison attempted to compete with private industry in iron manufacturing, but because of the isolated location of the prison, this proved economically unfeasible. In 1865 (Chapter 43) the legislature cancelled all existing contracts nd thereafter employed the convicts in the manufacture of iron and nails for New York State. During its first eight years, Clinton Prison's inmate population remained below 200, but by 1854 it reached 220 and then began a gradual climb through the years interrupted by occasional recessions. From 1906 on the figure remained above 1,000 except in the early 1920 when it went slightly below that number. Today Clinton houses more than 2,000 inmates. Until 1846 Clinton Prison was under the supervision of an agent and a keeper who, unlike the agents and wardens at Sing Sing and Auburn prisons, did not have to answer to a local board of inspectors who reported to the legislature. The Constitution of 1846 changed this system by providing for the eleciton of three inspectors of state prisons. The inspectors were granted supervisory powers over Clinton 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 with 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 to 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 Clinton and other state prisons in 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 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 passed in 1847 that originally mandated what records would be kept.