Clinton Correctional Facility
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| Location |
Village of Dannemora, Town of Dannemora, Clinton County, New York |
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| Coordinates | 44°43′25″N 73°43′15″W / 44.7236°N 73.7208°WCoordinates: 44°43′25″N 73°43′15″W / 44.7236°N 73.7208°W |
| Status | Operational |
| Security class | Maximum |
| Capacity | 2,959 |
| Population | 2,865 (as of December 2003) |
| Opened | 1845 |
| Managed by | New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision |
Clinton Correctional Facility is a New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision maximum security state prison for men located in the Village of Dannemora, New York. The prison itself is sometimes colloquially referred to as Dannemora, although its actual name is derived from its location in Clinton County, New York. The southern perimeter wall of the prison borders New York State Route 374. Church of St. Dismas, the Good Thief, a church built by inmates, is located within the walls. The prison is sometimes referred to as New York's Little Siberia due to the cold climate in Dannemora and the isolation of the area. It is the largest maximum security prison and the third oldest prison in New York. The staff includes about a thousand guards.
In the post-Furman v. Georgia period and prior to 2008, it housed the NYS state death row for men.
Built in 1845, it originally served as a site where prisoners were used to work in local mines in both Dannemora and nearby Lyon Mountain. This enterprise would not be profitable, and by 1877, mining had ended, and the prisoners were put to work on other trades. With this change, the prison experienced growth, and in 1887 it was given new concrete walls 30 feet tall that still stand. In 1892, the first prisoner was executed in the electric chair at the prison, beginning the use of capital punishment at Clinton Correctional. Twenty six men were executed between 1892 and 1913. This period also saw many prisoners cured of tuberculosis due in part to the clean air in the Adirondacks, leading to the importation of prisoners with this disease from other prisons.
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