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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 Inmate 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Some content may contain outdated and offensive terminology.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 inmate 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 inmates 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 younger inmates 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 inmates under thirty years of age.

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 Coxsackie Correctional Facility. These case files contain information on each inmate'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 inmates were confined.

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.

W0061-88C: This accession consists of approximately 7,500 case files relating to inmates confined at the New York State Vocational Institution from 1935 to 1960. The case files relate to inmates with inmate numbers between 1 and 10362. Reflecting the institution's function as a reformatory, the files contain extensive documentation of inmate academic and vocational training. 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 inmates to the Vocational Institution upon ceasing operations in 1935. These case files usually include the inmate's chronological record (summary of background, criminal activity, and confinement), educational record, and parole report.

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

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

Education and training reports. Case files include reports detailing academic courses and vocational training taken by the inmate 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 inmates released after 1956 from Coxsackie Correctional Facility.

W0061-08: This accretion contains a 2% sample of case files for inmates incarcerated in Coxsackie Correctional Facility, the majority of whom were released from 1988-1992. In addition to the sampled case files, files for prisoners receiving life sentences, sex offenders, inmates who died in custody, and inmates 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 inmate's name, facility, inmate 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 inmates confined in 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 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