NYSDOC – Elmira Correctional Facility

NYSDOC – Elmira Correctional Facility basic information to help guide you through what you can do for your inmate while they are incarcerated. The facility's direct contact number: 607-734-3901

This facility is for adult inmates.

The inmates housed at Elmira Correctional Facility located at 1879 Davis St in Elmira, NY are placed according to their custody level (determined by a number of factors including the past criminal history and the length of their sentence). There are ample educational and vocational training programs for all inmates, especially ones that show a willingness to learn new things that will prepare them for a better life when they are released. The mission is to promote and prepare the offender to leave in better shape than when they arrived, giving them the best chance to never come back and thus lower the state's recidivism rate.

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. Elmira CF serves two roles, as a reception center responsible for the intake/d classification of inmates, and it a high-security prison. The capacity of Elmira Correctional Facility is about 1800 inmates.

Inmates housed at Elmira Correctional Facility can receive substance abuse and alcohol addiction treatment and sex offender counseling and treatment. Additionally, Elmira has a mental health unit that can diagnose and treat offenders. Vocational courses available to inmates include building and custodial maintenance, carpentry, electrical, masonry, plumbing and heating, printing, paint brush and roller fabrication, welding, business, and machining. This facility also participate in the Correctional Industries allowing inmates to work in a printing plant, cast aluminum foundry, and paint brush and roller manufacturing shop.

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.

Elmira system

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.

Inmates were classified by three "grades", with newly arriving prisoners being placed at second grade for their first six months. Those who became the most responsive and cooperative prisoners earned a first grade, with the opportunity to earn additional privileges or "marks", including earning a reduction of their sentences or being granted parole (although inmates could be demoted if failing in their duties). Those inmates who were less responsive to rehabilitation or had behavioral problems were placed in third grade.

However, under instituted indeterminate sentencing, tension was often high among the general population as prisoners were rarely informed how long the terms of their imprisonment lasted. Brockway's later use of corporal punishment, the "Paddler Brockway" system that would eventually result in several prisoners' being transferred to mental asylums, caused some to question the reformatory system.

Still, the Elmira system was influential in prison reform. Two central ideas emerged from the Elmira system: differentiating between juvenile and adult offenders, and acknowledging the possibility of prisoner rehabilitation.

Despite its mixed results, the Elmira Reformatory would influence the construction of 25 reformatories in twelve states over the next 25 years. Although the education programs introduced in Elmira were the first to serve inmates in a correctional facility, the majority of the teaching staff were often unqualified and its complex grading system made progress difficult to maintain. Eventually, all well-behaved inmates were placed in first grade with a few in second grade and those under punishment in third grade.

However, following Brockway's resignation, the reformatory reinstituted to standard custody and treatment methods and eventually converted to the Elmira Correctional and Reception Center, an adult maximum security prison holding approximately 1,800 inmates.

In the late 1970s through late 1980s, Elmira and Corning Community College had a partnership whereby college professors volunteered to lecture within the prison, and inmates were able to earn an associate degree. However, during the recession of 1990–1992 there was a public outcry over spending taxpayer money to educate felons while many middle-class families struggled to pay their children's college tuition. As a result, the program was cut. There were attempts to revive the program in later years but by the time George Pataki, the former GOP governor, finished his budget cuts, the program was completely terminated

Convicted murderers Timothy Vail and Timothy Morgan escaped on July 7, 2003, by digging through the roof of their cell. Vail seriously injured himself during the escape, and the two were captured three days later and placed in solitary confinement in different prisons. Their escape was featured in the National Geographic documentary Breakout.

Notable inmates at Elmira CF

• Trevell Gerald Coleman AKA G-Dep (Rapper) – murder, sentenced to 15 to life
• Patrick Baxter – Serial killer.
• Colin Rideout- Convicted of brutally murdering his father, Craig Rideout, with his mother, Laura Rideout in Rochester, NY; was sentenced to 26 years to life imprisonment.
• Alexander Rideout – Brother of Colin Rideout, son of Laura Rideout. Acquitted of murdering his father, Craig Rideout, however, was convicted of two counts of tampering with evidence in connection to his father's murder. He is currently serving 4 years in prison.
• Dwight York – Nuwaubian cult leader. Before York's formation of his cult movement and eventual indictment by the federal government, he was arrested on June 25, 1964, and charged with statutory rape for having sex with a minor. His sentence was suspended and York was placed on probation. On October 24, 1964, York was arrested for assault, possession of a deadly weapon, and resisting arrest. His probation was revoked and he spends the next three years in Elmira Correctional Facility, then called the Elmira Reception Center.
• Nathaniel White – Serial killer

NY DOC – Elmira Correctional Facility – Handbook for Families of Inmates

ALL GENERAL CONFINEMENT FACILITIES

visitation Info

NYSDOC – Elmira Correctional Facility – Visitation

VISITING DAYS & HOURS
9:00 AM to 3:00 PM Monday to Friday Weekends/Holidays – Latest Arrival Time 2:00 PM 
Reception Center: 9:00AM to 2:45PM Weekends – Latest Arrival Time 2:15PM

SPECIAL HOUSING UNIT VISITING DAYS & HOURS (Inmates in SHU – 1 visit within 7 day period)
9:00 AM to 3:00 PM Monday to Friday Weekends/Holidays – Latest Arrival Time 2:00 PM 

NUMBER OF ALLOWABLE VISITS
Unlimited number of visits during visiting hours 

MAXIMUM NUMBER OF VISITORS PER VISIT/DAY (How many people at a visiting table at one time)
Three adults & One lap child under the age of Two or two adults, one child & one lap child under the age of two/Unlimited