Eastern Correctional Facility

Eastern Correctional Facility

Location	30 Institution Road Napanoch, New York
Status	open
Security class	maximum
Capacity	1100
Opened	1900
Managed by	New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision

Eastern Correctional Facility in 2015

The Eastern Correctional Facility is a state prison for men in Napanoch, Ulster County, New York. Eastern is one of the oldest prison facilities in the state. It's been a maximum security prison for men since 1973.

History

The site opened as the "Eastern New York Reformatory". Its imposing main building, with medieval-style turrets and long green copper roof, was designed by architect John Rochester Thomas, who had also designed Elmira. ^[1] The site was chosen partly for its easily available stone, and the transport provided by the adjacent Delaware and Hudson Canal; able-bodied adult prisoners were imported for construction labor.^[2]

In 1906 the adult prisoners were returned, replaced with juvenile offenders, and the reformatory officially began operation. Years later it achieved its capacity of 500 beds. In 1921 Eastern became the first of the institutions for defective delinquents in the United States. At various times the facility was designated as the "Institute for Defective and Delinquent Men at Napanoch", "State Institution for Male Defective Delinquents", and the "Catskill Reformatory".^[3]

The state's Ulster Correctional Facility was built on Eastern's grounds in 1990.

References

1. "Thomas, John Rochester" at The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Volume IX (1899). New York: James T. White and Company, p. 329
2. "A Second Reformatory". correctionhistory.org. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
3. "STATE TO TAKE OVER MORE CITY INMATES". New York Times. 24 January 1970. Retrieved 4 September 2016.

External links

• description of the 1902 Ontario and Western Railway Station and Museum

Coordinates: 41°44′29″N 74°21′47″W / 41.741271°N 74.363126°W