NYSDOC – Attica Correctional Facility

NYSDOC – Attica 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: 585-591-2000

This facility is for adult inmates.

The inmates housed at Attica Correctional Facility located at 639 Exchange St in Attica, 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.

The Attica Correctional Facility is a maximum security/supermax New York State prison in the town of Attica, in Wyoming County New York, operated by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision for about 2000 male inmates mostly with disciplinary issues. In fact, Attica CF is famous for holding many of the most dangerous criminals of the time.

The prison now holds many inmates who are serving various types of sentences (short-term to life), and who are usually sent to the facility because of disciplinary problems in other facilities. A CS (chlorobenzylidine malononitrile) tear gas system installed in the mess hall and industrial areas has been used to quell conflicts in these areas.

While incarcerated at Attica CF inmates can take vocational training in building/custodial maintenance, electrical, plumbing, heating, printing, welding, small engine repair, television repair, general business, and floor coverings. Specialized counseling for incarcerated veterans, substance abuse programs, and sex offender treatment is also available at this prison.

Attica was the site of a prison riot in 1971 which resulted in 43 deaths, of which 33 were convicts and ten were correctional officers and civilian employees.

Notable inmates

• David Berkowitz, better known as Son of Sam, serial killer who confessed to killing six people and wounding several others in New York City during the late 1970s. Since becoming a Christian, Berkowitz has stated he does not want to be paroled and should pay for the sins he has committed. Berkowitz is now housed at Shawangunk Correctional Facility.
• H. Rap Brown, Black Panther Party leader, served a sentence in Attica from 1971 to 1976.
• Mark David Chapman, who pleaded guilty to murdering John Lennon in 1980. Chapman was sentenced to 20 years-to-life and has been denied parole ten times amid campaigns against his release. Chapman is now housed at Wende Correctional Facility.
• Edward Cummiskey, Westies hitman during the 1970s.
• Dean Faiello, an unlicensed physician who was charged in the manslaughter of Filipina-American banker Maria Cruz in 2003.
• Jimmy Caci, a captain in the Los Angeles crime family spent eight years in Attica during the 1970s.
• Colin Ferguson, who murdered six people on the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) in 1993. Ferguson was sentenced to multiple life sentences. Ferguson is now housed at Upstate Correctional Facility.
• Kendall Francois, who murdered eight women, some of whom were prostitutes, and stored their bodies in his home in Poughkeepsie, New York. Francois, who was serving a life sentence without parole, died in September 2014.
• Frank P. Giffune, the Italian mob "fall guy" was sent to Attica in 1940 and sentenced to 12–25 years for grand larceny.
• Sam Melville, notorious as "mad bomber" in the 1960s, a Weather Underground member killed by New York State Police troopers during the "Attica Prison riot" of September 13, 1971
• El Sayyid Nosair, 1993 World Trade Center bombing terrorist was housed in Attica for a short duration related to a different assassination.
• Joseph 'Mad Dog' Sullivan, the only man who has ever escaped the prison.
• Willie Sutton, who robbed 100 banks from the late 1920s to 1952.
• David Sweat, who killed a Broome County sheriff's deputy in 2002 and escaped from Clinton Correctional Facility in 2015 was rehoused in Attica in 2017.
• Valentino Dixon was found to be innocent and was released in 2018, after 26 years of incarceration, when another man confessed to the murder of which Dixon was accused.

NYSDOC – Attica Correctional Facility – Handbook for Families of Inmates

visitation Info

NYSDOC – Attica Correctional Facility – Visitation

VISITING DAYS & HOURS
8:45 AM to 3:00 PM Weekends and Holidays Latest Arrival Time 2:00 PM 
One non-legal visit per week, Sunday through Saturday 
Latest Arrival Time 2:00 PM 

SPECIAL HOUSING UNIT VISITING DAYS & HOURS (Inmates in SHU – 1 visit within 7 day period)
9:30 AM to 2:30 PM Monday to Sunday through Latest Arrival Time 1:30 PM 

NUMBER OF ALLOWABLE VISITS
General population may visit any day of the week. However, if an inmate receives two (2) or more visits during the weekday, he will not be allowed visits on the weekend. 

MAXIMUM NUMBER OF VISITORS PER VISIT/DAY (How many people at a visiting table at one time)
Three (not including a child 1 year or younger)/Allowed up to two split visits a day.