Clinton Correctional Facility is a maximum security correctional facility located in Dannemora, New York.  It holds male inmates 16 years of age and older.  It is the largest correctional facility in New York State.  It is the third oldest facility in New York State.  It holds approximately 3,000 inmates.

Clinton Correctional Facility was established in 1845, as the third site for a state prison.  It began as a small outpost prison that was literally surrounded by a wooden stockade fence.  As the number of inmates in the facility increased the state made continuous improvements designed to increase capacity and increase security.  The wooden stockade fence was replaced by a stone wall.  Currently, concrete walls with enclosed guard towers surround the facility.

Clinton Correctional Facility employees more than 1,400 officers.  Fortunately, things have changed since the prison’s early days, when guards had to live in the village because of a lack of readily available transportation to and from the location.  The fact that so many of the villagers have historically worked in the prison has established a unique relationship between the village and the prison facility, with it remaining one of the most reliable job opportunities for the surrounding community.

Interestingly enough, the prison at Dannemora was considered a prime location for criminals when it first began.  That is because, in the late 1800s, the country was gripped by a tuberculosis epidemic.  The fresh air available in the Adirondacks was known to help TB patients, and many ill patients were sent to Clinton Correctional Facility.  This results in the construction of the Dannemora State Hospital, which was designed to serve the needs of inmates and included medical and psychiatric facilities.  To this day, the hospital operates as both a general hospital and dental facility.

As with many historic prisons, Clinton Correctional Facility has a troubled history.  It was once an incredibly cruel institution, where inmates were prohibited from speaking to each other and routinely beaten by guards.  Dannemora was also the location of many executions via the electric chair, until all executions were moved to Sing Sing, and then eventually outlawed in the state.  One controversial practice still continues at the modern Clinton Correctional Facility: solitary confinement.

As one might expect, the harsh conditions at the prison were not just accepted by the prisoners.  Clinton Correctional Facility has a well-earned reputation as a dangerous prison environment, and is, in fact, the site of an infamous prison riot.  In 1929, almost all of the prison’s 1,300 inmates charged the walls in an escape attempt.  They set fires and began beating guards.  Three guards were shot and killed and many others were injured.  The prison had to call in state troopers and the infantry to control the violence.  While most of the rioting inmates surrendered, a group of approximately 100 inmates barricaded themselves in a tailor shop, but eventually surrendered.

The prison also has a history of prison industry.  Initially, the prison operated as an iron mine, with three functioning mines.  Once iron mining was no longer needed, the state brought in other industries at the prison.  These industries have included maintenance and sewing.

While most of the prison’s dramatic stories are in the past, it was once again in the news in 2015.  Richard Matt and David Sweat, both convicted murderers, climbed out of a manhole covering, managing the first escape in the prison’s 150-year history.  Both convicts were eventually recaptured, but Sweat managed to remain free for several weeks.

Clinton Correctional Facility Address

Physical Address

Clinton Correctional Facility
1156 Rt. 374
Dannemora, New York 12929-2000

Mailing Address

The Clinton Correctional Facility mailing address is:

Clinton Correctional Facility
P.O. Box 2000
Dannemora, New York 12929-2000

Inmate Mailing Address

To send inmate mail via the U.S. Postal Service, you send it to the following address:

Inmate First Name and Last Name and Department Identification Number

Inmate ID Number
P.O. Box 2001
Dannemora, New York 12929

Inmates can receive regular mail via the USPS.  All mail is searched for contraband, and the determination of what is contraband is at the discretion of the jail.

The New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision maintains a list of people that inmates cannot contact, which includes people who have requested that they be put on the list, in addition to certain default categories of people, including: victims, DOCCS employees, inmates in any correctional facility, parolees or people on probation, and unrelated minors under 18 years of age.

Inmates cannot conduct mail ordered businesses or engaged in any type of gambling through the mail while incarcerated.  All mail must be meant for the person to whom it is addressed, and not sent for a third party.

Inmates can receive stamps, purchase stamps from commissary, and may be entitled to some free stamps.

Inmates can be mailed cash, money orders, and cashier’s checks.  However, the mail will be inspected and these items removed before being given to the inmate.  The money will be credited to the inmate’s trust account.

If mail contains printed or photocopied material, that material will be inspected and its delivery may be delayed until the inspection is completed.

Inmates can receive packages by mail or from visitors, but the DOCCS has rules that govern those packages.  Failure to comply with the rules can result in a delay in delivery, or in the item not being delivered at all.

Phone Number

The main contact number for Clinton Correctional Facility is 518-492-2511.

Clinton Correctional Facility Inmate Search

Clinton Correctional Facility does not operate its own inmate search function.  Instead, you can get computerized inmate information is from the DOCCS’s Inmate Lookup tool.  This tool is available 24 hours a day except for a 15-minute period every night beginning at approximately 11:45pm (Eastern time zone) and from 11:30pm Saturday to approximately 12:30am Sunday (Eastern time zone) due to scheduled server maintenance.  Using this tool, you can search by first name, last name, birth year, DIN, and birthdate.  The more information you have available, the easier to locate an inmate.   However, if you are running a DIN search, only use the DIN without other search terms.  Once you locate an inmate’s record, it has additional information.  That information includes: DIN, name, sex, date of birth, race/ethnicity, custody status, housing/releasing facility, date received, admission type, county of commitment, and release information when applicable.

Visitation

All visitors must comply with visitation rules at all times or the visit may be terminated and visitation privileges ended.

Regular visitation hours are 8:30AM to 3:30PM Monday-Friday, Weekends, and Holidays.

Special Housing Unit visitation hours are 8:30AM to 2:30PM Saturday and Sunday, with the latest arrival at 2PM.  Special housing units include the SHU, APPU, SNU, IPC, and VPC units.

Inmates are permitted an unlimited number of visits during business hours.

There is a maximum of four visitors per visit, but an unlimited number of visitors per day.

If the visiting room is overcrowded, the prison will ask for volunteers to end their visits.  If there are no volunteers, then the first visitors will be required to end their visits. 

All adult visitors are required to present photo identification.  Acceptable forms of photo identification include: driver’s license with photos; DMV-issued non-driver photo identification; government-issued photo identification; armed services I.D. with photo; and employment identification of photos.  All photos must be valid and current.  While not required, it is recommended that you use the same identification each time to speed up processing for visits.  Lawyers or others visiting for official visits can also use government-issued employee photo identification or court-issued picture identification.

All visitors entering the facility are subject to search.  Visitors may also be subject to a random ion scan or other non-intrusive test to search for drugs or explosives.  A confirmed positive test result will result in the visitor being denied entry to the facility for two days, even if the visitor is not carrying drugs or explosives.

All visitors must pass through a metal detector, and if the metal detector alerts you may have to submit to an individual search, up to the level of a strip search, before being permitted to enter the facility.  If you have a pacemaker, defibrillator, wheelchair, or crutches, contact the prison facility to make special processing arrangements.  If you have religious apparel, such as headgear, it is not generally required to remove it during search procedures, but if the staff determines that removal is necessary, then it must be done or the visit will be denied.

Visitors should not bring contraband to visitation.  Contraband items include: weapons, drugs, alcohol, cell phones, and memory cards.  Not only will this result in visitation being denied, but it could also result in you being arrested and prosecuted.

Visitors must adhere to a dress code.  Required clothing includes: complete attire with appropriate undergarments, comfortable footwear, weather-appropriate attire.  Prohibited clothing includes: see through clothing, bare midriffs, bare backs, plunging necklines, short-shorts, athletic shorts, bathing suits, and attire with offensive, obscene, or illegal words or drawings.

Inmate Phone Privileges

Inmates can place outgoing calls, but cannot receive incoming calls.  The DOCCS call this the Call-Home program.  Offenders are only permitted to make collect calls as part of this program.

Calls can only be placed to people on an offender’s approved list, which is limited to 15 numbers at a time.  Phone numbers can only be added or deleted at the offender’s request, and it usually one done on a quarterly basis.  You can have your name removed from an offender’s list if you request no contact by notifying the facility, in writing.

Inmates are generally permitted to make phone calls everyday, including holidays, between the hours of 7:00 AM to 11:00 PM.  Calls cannot exceed 30 minutes, and if other inmates are waiting to make phone calls, call time may be limited to 10 minutes.

Under most circumstances, inmates are not permitted to call: DOCCS employees or former employees; Division of Parole employees and their families; members of the criminal justice system; jurors; judges; non-incarcerated crime partners; victims (even if they are family members); people protected by an Order of Protection restricting the offender from making contact; or the purposes of harassing or intimidating any person.  Making harassing or intimidating phone calls can be considered a crime and may subject an offender to prosecution.

Call-forwarding, third-party calls, calls to 800 numbers, and calls to wireless communication devices, including cell phones, are prohibited.

Offender telephone calls are subject to electronic monitoring and recording.

Inmate Trust Accounts / Commissary

Clinton Correctional Facility allows you to deposit money into accounts for inmates to use for commissary.  Offenders cannot have any type of physical money, including paper money and coins, while incarcerated.

Money in trust accounts may be used to pay court surcharges, fees, or other fines that offenders have not paid.  Money deposited will be used for those costs before they can be used for commissary, but money from an offender’s incentive wage will be used for commissary.

Deposits should be made in the form of money order or certified check sent to the inmate, including the offenders’ DIN, your name, and your complete address on the check or money order.  You can send personal checks for deposit, but they have a longer processing time.

You can also leave money at the facility.  Money left at the visiting desk is limited to $50 per visitor, per day.

The offender commissary is a store located inside Clinton Correctional Facility, specifically for offenders.  It carries a wide variety of items, including personal care items.  Inmates with available funds and without disciplinary dispositions can make commissary purchases every two weeks.  Offenders without funds can request personal hygiene items from the facility.

Bail Information

Because the Clinton Correctional Facility is a long-term post-sentencing correctional facility, the inmates located there are not eligible for bail.  Bail is a means of insuring that pre-conviction and/or pre-sentencing inmates are present at trial, not a punishment or means of securing an early release.  If an inmate at the Clinton Correctional Facility reports that he needs money for bail, that information is inaccurate.

However, it is possible that an inmate at the Clinton Correctional Facility may need money to pay court costs, fines, or fees.  Those costs are deducted from money in inmate trust accounts before that money can be used for commissary purchases.  Therefore, if an inmate tells you that he needs to clear those charges before being able to make commissary purchases, you can follow the steps for depositing money into an inmate trust account to arrange those funds.

Conclusion

Clinton Correctional Facility is a state-level maximum security prison facility in upstate New York.  It is located in the village of Dannemora, in the Adirondacks, at 156 Rt. 374, Dannemora, New York 12929.  The main contact number for Clinton Correctional Facility is 518-492-2511.

Clinton Correctional Facility has a significant history.  It is the third-oldest New York State prison facility and is currently the largest correctional facility in the state.  It evolved from a small outpost prison that was protected by a wooden stockade fence, to a modern maximum security prison.  It has evolved, as well, in its treatment of prisoners.  From a history of requiring inmates to mine iron, and prisoner abuses including physical punishments and not permitting prisoners to talk at all, it has become an institution that embraces modern concepts about prisoner rights.  However, inmates at the facility still receive incentives if they participate in any of the prison’s work programs.

In fact, Clinton Correctional Facility. has one of the most liberal visitation policies to be found in maximum-security environments, with most prisoners being entitled to an unlimited number of total visitors and visitation every day of the week. 

Clinton Correctional Facility was the site of the largest prison riot in history, which resulted in the deaths of a number of guards in 1929.  The riot was only ended after the prison called in both state troopers and the infantry.  However, the prison did not have any escapes until 2015, when two convicted murders escaped, but were eventually recaptured.