NCJ Number
156864
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 57 Issue: 5 Dated: (August 1995) Pages: 130-132,134,136-139,163
Date Published
1995
Length
9 pages
Annotation
The Dannemora Prison in Clinton County (N.Y.) was established in the 1840's to produce a product that would not compete with products produced by nonconvict labor.
Abstract
In 1842, the New York legislature appointed Ransom Cook, who had experience in iron but not in prison, to examine the State's mineral regions and obtain proposals for the sale of mines to employ convicts. Cook supervised the construction and became not only the warden but also the surveyor, mining engineer, mine manager, contractor, and prison manager. Cook traveled to the Auburn and Sing Sing prisons and personally chose the convicts he would take to build their own jail. Cook kept meticulous records. He believed that correctional personnel should have tact, kindness, intelligence, firmness, and self-possession. He believed strongly in books and established a prison library. However, he was soon replaced due to political changes. Subsequent wardens kept few records. The dominant feature of Clinton prison became its self-generated procedures and the establishment of rules and regulations. The mining plan failed financially, and escapes were frequent. The manufacture of iron and nails at the prison ceased in 1877. In 1884 and 1885, the wooden stockade was replaced with a stone wall. The prison's first electrocution took place in 1895. Photograph