What are some State level and Federal Prisons in New York State?
New York is one of the most populous states in the USA. There are many prisons in numbers as well. Learn more about What are some State level and Federal Prisons in New York State
Since New York is the 4th most populous state in the United States of America, thus its number of prisons is also greater. As of 2022, 48 state prisons are overlooked by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision or NYSDOCCS. However, what’s interesting about the State of New York is that its number of prisons is declining and so far in 2022, over 6 prisons have been shut down all because of declining crime rates.
In addition, similar to other states, the State of New York also houses Federal Prisons which of course are to house criminals that conduct Federal crimes ranging from drug trafficking, identity theft, fraud in tax, or child pornography. While many people believe it is NYSDOCCS that also oversees the Federal Prisons located in the State of New York, however, that is not true as the responsibility of Federal Prisons lies solely on the Federal Government.
What is the difference between a Federal Prison or a State Prison in the US?
Apart from the nature of crimes by inmates and the jurisdiction body, there is not much of a difference between a Federal Prison and a State Prison. However, there might be a difference in the number of rehabilitation programs inside a Federal Prison but is not a must, some Federal prisons offer community-based facilities providing the inmates with work and other opportunities that will help them upon their release but those opportunities may differ from state prison.
Since the nature of crimes that come under the Federal Criminal Law of the US are different, therefore, the standards of rehabilitation programs for inmates are also different. Federal Prisons come under the Federal Bureau of Prisons or BOP, which has more funding and less number of prisons to manage and this is a reason why their standards have been reported by many as much better than those of state prisons but this seems to vary from region to region and is not a must in all cases.
Additionally, getting parole and conjugal visits are quite difficult and nearly impossible to obtain in a Federal Prison as compared to a State Prison in the US, in fact as of 2022, no Federal Prison in the US offers a conjugal visit to its inmates.
The distinction between Federal crimes and State crimes has often been lauded by many in the United States, particularly this helps to ease down the burden on state authorities, giving them more time to look at things that they can better control and also easing the burden on state courts as they have more time and resources to thoroughly oversee the cases of local state criminals and prosecute them depending upon their charges.
While many believe the majority of Federal Prisons are high-security prisons, that is not all true. While some Federal Prisons are indeed level 5 prisons, however, that is not the case with all Federal Prisons because the majority of them are minimum security level institutes or from level 1 to level 3 prisons. Prisons who have spent time in minimum level federal prisons have claimed them to be far more relaxed with good facilities than the state prisons.
Overall, since federal prisons have better funding, better resources, better manpower, and fewer prisoners to deal with, therefore the prisoners there have access to better facilities than those in state prisons. Apart from this, there is not much of a difference between the two and rather serve the purpose they are designed for which includes the rehabilitation of criminals.
List of New York state Federal Prisons:
At any given time, there are over 3,000 inmates that are housed in 4 different New York state federal prisons. These 4 facilities are scattered all along with New York state and each differs in its level of security along with its mission. These 4 New York state federal prisons are:
Brookly MDC:
This facility was opened in 1990 with a facility to house over 1,000 inmates but with time and demand the facility grew and now houses over 1,500 male and female prisoners at all five different security levels.
To date, the majority of inmates in Brooklyn’s MDC population have pending cases that are active in the United State District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Furthermore, a small portion of inmates is there to serve out their brief sentences at this facility.
New York MCC:
Metropolitan Correctional Center New York is located in Lower Manhattan at Foley Square. It houses both men and women of all five different security levels. Similar to Brookly MDC, the New York MCC also houses a majority of inmates that are undergoing their cases. The federal facility was initially designed to house 449 detainees and inmates but now it holds almost 800.
The facility comprises 10 self-contained housing units and has housed multiple notorious inmates which also including the Gambino crime family members who were charged with dealing drugs and other terrorism-related charges.
Otisville FCI
Otisville is located in the countryside of the Catskills. It houses around 800 inmates in two different kinds of facilities. One is a medium-level security prison where nonviolent offenders can serve their sentences. This section of the prison has been lauded as one of the most comfortable federal prisons in the whole of the United States. However, the high-security level prison which is located on the other side of Otisville FCI is a bit different but inmates if they show good behavior are allowed to be shifted there.
This federal prison is quite popular among the Jewish inmates that have a rabbi on staff and kosher meals are available at their request.
Ray Brook FCI
There is much history associated with Ray Brook FCI because it was once used to house the athletes of the 1980 winter Olympics. At the moment, in 2022, it houses 800 inmates and has a detention center.
The facility is a minimum level security prison and has several facilities that others do not have, especially including the access to a commissary which allows the inmates to purchase items that are non-standard to other prisons.
List of state prisons in the New York state:
48 correctional facilities are owned and operated by the State of New York. It is to be noted as of 2016, there are no private prisons according to an amendment in the state’s law. These facilities include:
- Adirondack Correctional Facility
- Albion Correctional Facility
- Altona Correctional Facility
- Attica Correctional Facility
- Auburn Correctional Facility
- Bare Hill Correctional Facility
- Bedford Hills Correctional Facility
- Cape Vincent Correctional Facility
- Cayuga Correctional Facility
- Clinton Correctional Facility
- Collins Correctional Facility
- Coxsackie Correctional Facility
- Eastern Correctional Facility
- Edgecombe Correctional Facility
- Elmira Correctional Facility
- Elmira Correctional Facility
- Fishkill Correctional Facility
- Five Points Correctional Facility
- Franklin Correctional Facility
- Gouverneur Correctional Facility
- Great Meadow Correctional Facility
- Green Haven Correctional Facility
- Greene Correctional Facility
- Groveland Correctional Facility
- Hale Creek Correctional Facility
- Hudson Correctional Facility
- Lakeview Shock Incarceration Correctional Facility
- Marcy Correctional Facility
- Mid State Correctional Facility
- Mohawk Correctional Facility
- Orleans Correctional Facility
- Otisville Correctional Facility
- Queensboro Correctional Facility
- Riverview Correctional Facility
- Shawangunk Correctional Facility
- Taconic Correctional Facility
- Ulster Correctional Facility
- Upstate Correctional Facility
- Wallkill Correctional Facility
- Washington Correctional Facility
- Wende Correctional Facility
- Woodbourne Correctional Facility
- Wyoming Correctional Facility
So far there have been 26 state prisons that New York state authorities have closed. Out of these 26 prisons, 6 of them have just been closed in 2022 which includes:
- Downstate Correctional Facility
- Moriah Shock Incarceration Correctional Facility
- Ogdensburg Correctional Facility
- Southport Correctional Facility
- Willard Drug Treatment Center
You can read more articles about Prisons:
- Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, Level 4, Level 5 Prisons in Ohio
- Byrd Unit Texas: Everything You Need To Know About This Facility
- List of Maximum security prisons in the New York State
- Segovia Unit Brief Overview Visiting Hours, Inmate Phones, And Location
- 7 Worst Prisons In the State of Ohio
- Minimum, Medium, and Maximum Security Levels in Prisons of Illinois
- Minimum, Medium, and Maximum Level Prisons In Pennsylvania
- What Prisons are Closing in New York State?
