Riverview Correctional Facility

Riverview Correctional Facility is a medium-security facility for male inmates that is located in Riverview, New York. This facility can house approximately 900 inmates and is operated by the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.

Prison Insights

Visiting Hours and Rules

Visiting hours at Riverview Correctional Facility for the general population and the SHU (Special Housing Unit) are on weekends and holidays from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM. You must arrive by 2:30 PM to visit with your inmate.

Inmates in SHU custody are allowed one non-legal visit within a seven day period.

A maximum number of four visitors are allowed to visit an inmate at one time. For more detailed visiting information, click here.

Visitor Checklist

To make sure you are prepared for your visit, please look over the following checklist:

• Confirm that the offender has not been transferred and has visitation privileges.
• Bring valid photo identification.
• 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 visiting regulations.
• 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 correctional facility grounds. 
• 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. 

Dress Code

Visitors should wear clothing that enhances a family atmosphere. The dress code requires visitors to wear complete modest attire with appropriate undergarments and comfortable footwear (bare feet are not allowed).

Inappropriate clothing will result in being denied entry into the facility. Please be sure to understand the dress code for visitors. It will help to have a change of clothing with you if you have any reservations about the clothes you are wearing.

Inmate mail may include personal letters (a maximum of five pages per envelope) and photographs. However, you are not allowed to send: nude photographs, Polaroid photos, postage stamps, and letters from other people, except children.

Inmates may receive a package through the mail from anyone who is not on a negative correspondence or negative vendor list. A package without a return address will not be delivered to the offender. 

Inmates are allowed two food packages per month, and the combined weight cannot exceed 35 pounds. Food items must be commercially or hermetically sealed and contain no alcohol. For exceptions, please review the list of allowable items.

Additional packages containing non-food items, such as clothing and tobacco, may be received and will not be counted against the food package limit. Be advised that there are limits on the amount of personal property an offender may accumulate based on physical and/or programmatic considerations. There are also restrictions on color of clothing.

How to Call an Inmate

How to Send Money

Programs For Inmates

The inmate programs at Riverview Correctional Facility include:

Adult Basic Education

The Adult Basic Education Program 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.

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.

Barbering

The Barbering course covers the basic services provided by the barber trade. The student studies hair cutting, shaving, massaging, facials, scalp treatments, and styling. The goal of the Barbering course is to train students in the barbering trade and prepare them to take the Barber license exam. 

College Program

In addition to the New York Theological Seminary's Masters of Professional Studies Program, Riverview offers on-site, college level, credit-bearing courses from St. Lawrence University.

Computer Operator

This course introduces students to the hardware and software components of computers. The main focus of the program is the operation of software, which includes word processing, spreadsheets, databases, and presentations.

Custodial Maintenance

The Custodial Maintenance Course emphasizes custodial services, including floor care, carpet and fabric care, upholstery care, window care, restroom care, and the safe use and operation of power cleaning equipment and sanitation chemicals.

Floor Covering

The Floor Covering Course covers the installation of most floor covering materials including types of carpeting, floor tile, sheet goods, wall tile, and quarry slate. Students learn layout and measurement, floor preparation, maintenance and repair, and job estimation.

Horticulture

Horticulture refers to the production, care, management and marketing of plants such as flowers, shrubs, trees, bulbs and turf. Training includes instruction and practice in techniques and methods of plant propagation, transplanting, pruning, cultivation, fertilization, and greenhouse production, as well as plant identification and insect control.

Incarcerated Veterans Program

The Incarcerated Veterans Program is designed to address the readjustment and reentry needs of veterans returning to society following a period of incarceration. 

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.

Printing

The Printing Course is an extensive program teaching a variety of techniques ranging from bookbinding, typesetting, and lithography (offset press work). The goal of this course is to provide students with entry level skills that will enable them to secure employment in the printing trade.

Waste Management

The Waste Management Program provides recycling and organic waste diversion and avoided cost services for the Department and selected municipalities. The program employs up to 1100 incarcerated individuals at various levels in facilities and regional recycling processing centers. 

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.

Pictures of Riverview Correctional Facility

Careers at Riverview Correctional Facility