Research


New York State Department of Correctional Services Woodbourne Correctional Facility Inmate Case Files


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Overview of the Records

Repository:

New York State Archives
New York State Education Department
Cultural Education Center
Albany, NY 12230

Summary:
Woodbourne Correctional Facility, located in Sullivan County, N.Y., is a medium security correctional facility for male felons. Inmate case files describe in great detail the family and social background, arrest, confinement, and release/parole of incarcerated men.
Creator:
Creator:
Title:
Woodbourne Correctional Facility inmate case files
Quantity:

440 cubic feet

Inclusive Dates:
1935-2004
Series Number:
W0059

Arrangement

Roughly numerical by DIN number.

Administrative History

Woodbourne Correctional Facility, located in Sullivan County, N.Y., is a medium security correctional facility for male felons.

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).

Other Finding Aids

Available at Repository

Folder lists are available at the repository.

Acquisition Information

This subseries was transferred under RDA 14610 by the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.

W0059-21: This accretion was transferred under RDA 16112.

Processing Information

W0059 is formally part of Series 14610, Department of Corrections and Community Supervision Inmate Case Files. To improve access, Series 14610 was divided into "W" subseries corresponding to individual correctional facilities.

Access Restrictions

Summary information on adult inmates is disclosable under law. State Archives staff will review records containing probation, parole, medical, and juvenile criminal history data and disclose information pursuant to the Freedom of Information Law and Personal Privacy Protection Law. The identity of victims of sex crimes is not disclosable. Unless a specific law forbids disclosure indefinitely, all records must be disclosed after 75 years.

Access Terms

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Detailed Description

Contents Box

Accretion: W0059-13
Attica Riot:71A0264 1
Other Race:86B0909 2
Attica Riot:88C0281 3
2% Sample:89T3488;Other Race:93A0035 4
2% Sample:93A8805 5
Notorious:72H0002 6
Notorious:77A3088 7
Notorious:78A3040 8
Notorious:79A3424-81A1030 9
Notorious:81A5353 10
Notorious:82A2409-84B0098 11
Notorious:85A7167-86A9138;89A9745-89B0188 12
Notorious:87A5140-87T0262;88A0454-93R2159 13
Notorious:87T0658-88T1802 14
Notorious:89A3288-89A4029;89T0678 15
Notorious:89A4280-89A4453;89T2990 16
Notorious:89A4527-89A6810 17
Notorious:89A8711-89T1035 18
Notorious:89T1800-90A0316 19
Notorious:90A2884-90A6133 20
Notorious:90A6359-90A7101 21
Notorious:90B1112-91A5856 22
Notorious:91A9624-91R2420 23
Notorious:92A1972 24
Notorious:92A2466 25
Notorious:92A5841 26
Notorious:94R7377;94A4964 27
Notorious:94R8391 28