Elmira Correctional Facility
| Location | Elmira, New York |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 42°6′53.03″N 76°49′44.64″W / 42.1147306°N 76.8290667°WCoordinates: 42°6′53.03″N 76°49′44.64″W / 42.1147306°N 76.8290667°W |
| Status | Operational |
| Security class | Maximum security |
| Opened | 1876 (as Elmira Reformatory) |
| Managed by | NYSDOCCS |
Elmira Correctional Facility, also known as "The Hill", is a maximum security state prison located in Chemung County, New York, in the City of Elmira. It is operated by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. The supermax prison, Southport Correctional Facility, is located two miles away from Elmira.
The facility was founded in 1876 as run as the Elmira Reformatory by its controversial superintendent Zebulon Brockway. Acting with rehabilitative aims, Brockway instilled strict discipline along the lines of military training. Although accused of brutality for his corporal punishment in 1893, Brockway was an acknowledged leader in his field. At his retirement in 1900 the Elmira System had been adopted by the states of Massachusetts, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, and Minnesota.
In 1970 the complex was renamed the Elmira Correctional and Reception Center. Elmira retained a focus on younger offenders until some time in the 1990s.
The facility was founded as Elmira Reformatory in 1876. It differed from many prisons of the day as it focused on reforming the convict using psychological methods rather than physical. Previously, prisoners were required to abide by the "holy trinity" of silence, obedience and labor. Sentences were indeterminate. Inmates were only released after a warden's determination that they'd "paid their debt to society". In contrast Elmira sought to reform and rehabilitate. Brockway set up a system of incentives to encourage self-discipline.
Among the programs begun at the reformatory included courses in ethics and religion, vocational training in various trades and extracurricular activities such as a prison band, newspaper and various athletic leagues.
Influenced by the methods of Walter Crofton's "Irish system" as well as Alexander Maconochie's experiments in Australian penal colonies, discipline was largely patterned after military academies. Inmates would be dressed in military style uniforms often marching to the tune of a military band.
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