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• Full Finding Aid
• Overview
• Arrangement
• Administrative History
• Scope and Contents
• Other Finding Aids
• Access Restrictions
• Processing Information
• Access Terms
•  Name Index

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New York State Department of Correctional Services Coxsackie Correctional Facility Incarcerated Individual Case Files

Some content may contain outdated and offensive terminology. See: New York State Archives Statement on Language in Descriptive Resources

Overview of the Records

Arrangement

Roughly numerical by DIN or consecutive number.

Administrative History

Coxsackie Correctional Facility, located in Greene County, New York, opened in 1935 as the New York State Vocational Institution. The first individuals admitted were males between the ages of sixteen and nineteen, transferred from the recently closed New York House of Refuge in New York City. The institution initially continued the House of Refuge's reformatory mission of providing incarcerated youth with a program of academic and vocational education. In 1970, the institution was renamed Coxsackie Correctional Facility and designated as a maximum security prison for male felons. The incarcerated population, however, has continued to consist predominantly of those under thirty years of age.

Scope and Content Note

This series consists of case files of individuals relating to men who were incarcerated in Coxsackie Correctional Facility. These case files contain information on each incarcerated person's family and social background, arrest, incarceration, and discharge. The content of the case files reflects the correctional program of the institution in which the individuals were confined.

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

W0061-88C: This accession consists of approximately 7,500 case files relating to incarcerated persons confined at the New York State Vocational Institution from 1935 to 1960. The case files relate to the incarcerated who were given identification numbers between 1 and 10362. Reflecting the institution's function as a reformatory, the files contain extensive documentation of academic and vocational training for those who were incarcerated there. Records in these case files not normally found in other case file accessions include:

Records compiled at the New York House of Refuge. The earliest files include records compiled at the New York House of Refuge, which transferred its incarcerated population to the Vocational Institution upon ceasing operations in 1935. These case files usually include the chronological record of those incarcerated (summary of background, criminal activity, and confinement), educational record, and parole report.

Report of the Adjustment/Assignment Committee. This report briefly summarizes each incarcerated individual in several areas (criminal behavior, education, religion, work, personality, health, mental age, and mental health) and indicates where they were assigned for work (carpenter shop, bakery, etc.).

Psychiatric reports. These case files include more in-depth psychiatric reports than most case files, the result of more intensive evaluation of each individual.

Education and training reports. Case files include reports detailing academic courses and vocational training taken by those incarcerated at the reformatory. These reports usually list the title of the course, grades for specific marking periods, and special comments by the teacher.

Monthly parole reports. Case files usually include brief monthly reports documenting the parolee's employment and adjustment to life on parole.

W0061-94: The accretion consists of a 2% sample of case files for persons released after 1956 from Coxsackie Correctional Facility.

W0061-08: This accretion contains a 2% sample of case files for those incarcerated in Coxsackie Correctional Facility, the majority of whom were released from 1988-1992. In addition to the sampled case files, files for those who received life sentences, sex offenders, those who died in custody, and those of Asian and Native American ethnicity are included when available.

Other Finding Aids

Online Index

 Personal Name Index The index to series W0061 contains 6,321 entries. Each entry includes the incarcerated individual's name, facility, identification number, birth date, and release date. Each entry also provides a pointer to the location within the records series. Currently the index only relates to those confined to the institution between 1930 and 1965.

Processing Information

W0061 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 incarcerated adults 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