Research


Scope and Content Note

This subseries of the general inmate case files series, Series 14610, consists of inmate case files relating to men who were incarcerated in Woodbourne Correctional Facility. Inmate case files describe in great detail the family and social background, arrest, confinement, and release/parole of inmates. The content of the case files reflects the role of each institution.

Beginning with inmates released after 1956, only the following case files categories were transferred to the State Archives: inmates who died in custody, sex offenders, inmates of certain minority ethnic groups, inmates who received life sentences, and a 2% sample of all inmates who were released from any correctional facility. All other case files were destroyed.

W0059-89A: This accretion consists of approximately 4,900 case files relating to inmates confined at Woodbourne Correctional Institution from 1935 to 1968. Because it served solely as a transfer institution, Woodbourne's case files contain inmate records from many different institutions within the corrections system. The records also reflect Woodbourne's functions in handling two different types of inmate populations: defective delinquent inmates and "normal"/"borderline" inmates.

Boxes 1 to 69 in the accession contain approximately 1,200 case files for defective delinquent inmates confined from 1935 to 1950 with inmate numbers between 4 and 2560. Boxes 70 to 315 contain approximately 3,700 case files from "normal" inmates confined from 1935 to 1947 and for "borderline" intelligent inmates confined from 1947 to 1968, with inmate numbers between 52 and 8232.

The majority of records in the Woodbourne case files are typical records found in case files from other corrections institutions. Case files for defective delinquent inmates, however, do contain a number of detailed records used in the process of psychiatric and mental classification and vocational education. Many of these classification records were prepared at the Institution for Defective Delinquents at Napanoch where most of Woodbourne's defective delinquent inmates were initially confined.

W0059-98J: This accretion consists of a 2% sample of case files of inmates released from Woodbourne Correctional Facility in the period 1976-1981. Also included are all case files of inmates who died in custody, sex offenders, inmates of certain minority ethnic groups, and those who served life sentences. No case files of female inmates are included.

W0059-05: This accretion contains a 2% sample of case files for inmates incarcerated in Woodbourne Correctional Facility. In addition to the sampled case files, files for prisoners incarcerated in Attica Correctional Facility at the time of the 1971 uprising are also included.

W0059-08: This accretion contains a 2% sample of case files of inmates incarcerated in Woodbourne Correctional Facility, the majority of whom were released from 1988-1992. In addition to the sampled case files, prisoners receiving life sentences, sex offenders, inmates who died in custody, and inmates of Asian and Native American ethnicity are included when available.

W0059-21: This accretion documents inmates whose sentences reached maximum expiration dates in 2003-2004. Records only document inmates categorized under specific felony and central monitoring classes: Class A-1, CMC A status; Arson (1st, 2nd); Kidnapping (1st, 2nd); Conspiracy (1st); Coercion (CMC A, class D only).