Eastern New York Correctional Facility

Eastern New York Correctional Facility is a maximum-security facility for adult male inmates that is located in Napanoch, New York. This facility can house approximately 1,000 inmates, and it is operated by the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.

This facility opened in 1900 – making it one of the oldest prisons in the state of New York – and its main building features medieval-style turrets and a green copper roof. 

It has been a maximum-security prison for adult males since 1973. Originally, this facility was known as the Eastern New York Reformatory, but over the years it has been known by various names, including: Institute for Defective and Delinquent Men at Napanoch, State Institution for Male Defective Delinquents, and the Catskill Reformatory.

Prison Insights

Visiting Hours and Rules

Visiting hours at Eastern New York Correctional Facility are on Monday through Friday between 9:00 am and 3:30 pm, and on Saturdays and Sundays between 9:00 am and 3:00 pm. During the week, the latest time you can arrive for a visit is 3:00 pm. On the weekends, the latest arrival time for a visit is 2:30 pm.

Special Housing Unit Visiting Days & Hours are from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm on Monday through Friday. On Saturday and Sunday, the visiting hours are between 9:00 am and 2:30 pm. Inmates in SHU custody are allowed one non-legal visit within a seven day period. The visiting week starts on Monday and ends on Sunday.

Inmates may receive daily visits Monday through Friday. However, if they receive two visits during that period they may not receive a visit on the weekend. If they receive only one visit they may receive a visit on Saturday or Sunday.

The maximum number of visitors allowed per visit is four, including children

For more detailed visiting information, click here.

Visitor Checklist

There are a few things you should remember to be prepared for your visit, please look over the following checklist:

• Confirm that the inmate has visitation privileges and has not been transferred to another facility.
• Bring current photo identification, like a driver’s license or passport.
• If you have made special arrangements with the facility, call before leaving to ensure that plans for your visit have been made and are in place.
• Check clothing and jewelry for compliance with the dress code.
• If you are bringing a child and you are not the legal guardian or parent, be sure you have a notarized statement from the child’s parent or legal guardian.
• Before leaving home, check your vehicle for contraband and/or hazardous items and be sure to remove these items before entering prison grounds.
• Double check the visiting schedule, so you arrive on the designated day during proper visiting hours.
• Leave purses, wallets, and electronic devices in the glove compartment or in the trunk of your car. Do not leave minor children waiting in the car or your visit will be ended.
• Do not have any contraband on you when you enter the facility.
• Do not bring anything into the visiting room to give to the offender. Offenders are not permitted to take anything from the visiting area.

Dress Code

Visitors should wear modest clothing with appropriate undergarments, comfortable footwear (bare feet are not allowed) and weather appropriate attire when necessary. If you do not wear appropriate clothing,  you will not be allowed to visit. 

Please be sure to understand the dress code. It will help to have a change of clothing with you if you have any reservations about the clothing you are wearing.

The following clothing is not allowed in the visiting room:

• See-through (sheer) clothing, bare midriffs or backs
• Plunging necklines, short shorts, athletic shorts, low tops, or backless tops or dresses.
• Shorts or skirts shorter than mid-thigh are not allowed.
• Bathing suits
• Attire displaying obscene/offensive, derogatory language or drawings, or promoting illegal activity.

Some head wraps may have to be removed in order for you to pass through the metal detector successfully. Jewelry may make the detector go off, so remove anything questionable and carry it with you into the processing area and put it back on later. 

Hair pins may also cause metal detectors to go off. If that happens, you will be asked to remove them in order to visit your inmate. Underwire bras that set off the metal detector will have to be removed and/or the individual will be searched by an officer. 

Zippers, metal studs, and decorations can set the detector off. If this happens, you may be asked to go into the bathroom, take off the clothing, put on alternative articles of clothing provided by the Department and kept there for those purposes. 

You will go through the detector again until you make it through successfully. It is best to wear simple clothing so that you can become accustomed to the procedures at the correctional facility. If in doubt, you should not wear questionable items of clothing. 

How to Call an Inmate

How to Send Money

Programs For Inmates

Eastern New York Correctional Facility offers a variety of programs and services for inmates, and there are also industries on the grounds that employ inmates.

Adult Basic Education

The Adult Basic Education Program provides individualized instruction. This is provided to meet the needs of incarcerated individuals who have reading and math scores below the sixth grade level on the Department's selected standardized test in reading, mathematics, and language arts in the context of real life adult problems and situations.

The goal of this program is to provide individuals with skills or competencies necessary to function successfully in contemporary society and to enable the participant to function at the sixth grade reading and mathematics level.

College Program

In addition to the New York Theological Seminary's Masters of Professional Studies Program, Eastern NY offers Bard Prison Initiative Associate's and Bachelor's Degree Programs for incarcerated individuals who possess a verified high school equivalency or high school diploma.

Aggression Replacement Training (ART)

A cognitive behavioral intervention program designed to assist individuals in improving social skills, moral reasoning, coping with and reducing aggressive behavior through the use of self regulating exercises and mindfulness.

ART consists of three coordinated interventions: anger control training, structured learning, and moral reasoning. The program consists of five modules with 32 sessions.

Participants will learn to understand what causes them to feel angry and act aggressively, as well as techniques to reduce anger/aggressive behavior, self-regulate to stop "automatic" aggression, and to build skills that help make better choices.

Building Maintenance

The Building Maintenance program provides students with fundamental skills required to make minor repairs in carpentry, masonry, electricity, plumbing, and weatherization. This course prepares the student with entry-level skills as a building superintendent.

Culinary Arts

Students are instructed in baking bread and pastry, preparing all types of foods, kitchen sanitation and the proper procedures and techniques used in serving food. The goal of this course is to provide students with entry level skills in the food trades.

The Family Reunion Program

The Family Reunion Program (FRP) provides approved incarcerated individuals and their families the opportunity to meet for a designated period of time in a private home-like setting.

The goals of the program include:

• Preserving and strengthening family ties that have been disrupted as a result of incarceration.
• Fostering positive and responsible conduct.
• Facilitating post-release reintegration into the family and community, thereby reducing the likelihood of recidivism.

Incarcerated Veterans

The Incarcerated Veterans Program is designed to address the readjustment and reentry needs of veterans returning to society following a period of incarceration. All facilities in New York provide Level I services, but Eastern NY also provides Level II. 

Level I services ensure that veterans obtain a copy of their DD214 Military Discharge papers and that appropriate referrals are made through the Veterans Administration (VA) for ongoing treatment, vocational training, education, housing, and employment when the veteran is released from incarceration. 

Level II services include a Veterans Inmate Organization that meets on a regular basis providing education, camaraderie and support to each other. There is often a community group involved, such as an American Legion or a VFW Post. There is a Veterans’ Day Recognition Ceremony and Banquet to honor their service to their country.

Masonry

Students in masonry are taught the fundamentals of wall construction, mixing mortar, learning to work with brick, cinderblock, cement blocks, and concrete. Students must also learn blueprint reading and trade mathematics.

The goal of the Mason Shop course is to provide students with entry-level skills as a bricklayer or a mason.

Mattress Manufacturing

The Mattress Shop is a manufacturing unit designed to provide the participant an understanding of the production of a wide variety of fire retardant mattresses and the manufacture of pillows. The materials produced by the unit are standard items used in state and local facilities and universities throughout the state.

The goal of the program is to provide an opportunity for participants to acquire job skills and acceptable work habits by working in a production oriented environment, operating equipment, and meeting production schedules and quality standards. Efficiency and quality are stressed in all shops. To be admitted, a high school diploma or HSE is required.

Metal Shop

Participants in the Metal Shop learn various aspects of metal products manufacturing, including sign, dust pans, table frames, fireplace grills, trash baskets, steel shelving, sign blanks, and other related metal components. Metal finishing and processing is taught, as well as the fabrication of components for other Industries Shops.

Participants are provided an opportunity to acquire job skills and acceptable work habits by working in a production oriented environment, operating equipment, and meeting production schedules and quality standards. Efficiency and quality are stressed in all shops. A high school diploma or HSE is required to participate.

Painting and Decorating

Students in this program learn techniques of paint application to both interior and exterior surfaces. Skills taught relate to preparation of the surface, and application of stains, clear finishes and pigmented paint. Students learn techniques of wallpapering, and wood refinishing. Instruction is given in safety procedures in handling paints, ladders, and scaffolding.

Sign and Silk Screen Shop

Participants in this program are taught various aspects of silk screening, such as design and layout, darkroom operation, screen preparation, and screening on various media. Participants are also trained in various stages of sign manufacture to obtain employment in a sign shop.

Students are provided an opportunity to acquire job skills and learn acceptable work habits by participating in a production-oriented environment, operating equipment and meeting production schedules, and quality standards. Efficiency and quality are stressed in all shops. A high school diploma or HSE is required to participate.

Waste Management

The Waste Management Program provides recycling and organic waste diversion and avoided cost services for the Department and selected municipalities. 

Program goals include providing:

• solid waste disposal cost avoidance to the Department through procurement, recycling and organic waste composting strategies
• statutory compliance with solid waste regulations and benign environmental stewardship waste management practices
• relevant and productive inmate work experiences

Welding

Students are taught various techniques of arc, oxyacetylene, tungsten inert gas (TIG) and metallic inert gas (MIG) welding and cutting. They learn control of equipment in the various positions of welding, as well as many types of joints, beads, welds, and braces. This course includes blueprint reading and working from layouts and diagrams.

The goal of the Welding Course is to develop students' entry level skills as a welder.

Youth Assistance Program

The Youth Assistance Program is specifically designed to provide positive guidance and direction to at-risk youth in the surrounding community from becoming involved in illegal activities or committing crimes which may lead to the criminal justice system.

The program includes presentations by selected facilitators who are incarcerated. They discuss the circumstances and behaviors that led to their incarceration and the consequences of life in prison. Youth Assistance Programs are supervised by designated facility staff and held in an area of the facility as directed by the Superintendent.

Pictures of Eastern New York Correctional Facility

Careers at Eastern New York Correctional Facility

If you are interested in a career with the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision and would like to work at the Eastern New York Correctional Facility, you can find out more information by clicking here.