Wallkill Correctional Facility

Wallkill Correctional Facility is a medium-security prison for male inmates that is located in Wallkill, New York. This facility can house approximately 600 inmates and is operated by the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.

There is no Special Housing Unit (SHU) at Wallkill Correctional Facility, and there are numerous education and treatment programs for inmates. There is also the Correctional Industries Program that gives inmates the opportunity to work in the optical shop, as well as the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation’s second chance program.

This prison opened in 1933 and originally was built in a college campus style with no walls. It was once used to house “good behavior/white collar” inmates, but recent years have forced them to house first-time offenders at the facility. They also recently added a chain-link fence and razor wire around the facility’s perimeter.

Prison Insights

Visiting Hours and Rules

Visiting hours at Wallkill Correctional Facility are on weekends and holidays from 7:30 AM to 2:15 PM. You must arrive by 1:50 PM to visit with your inmate. Inmates are allowed four visits per month, and in months with five weeks they are allowed one additional visit on the fifth Saturday or Sunday.

A maximum number of three adult visitors are allowed to visit an inmate at once. 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 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. You can also send packages containing non-food items like clothing and tobacco.

How to Call an Inmate

Inmates at the Wallkill Correctional Facility can’t receive incoming calls, but they do have access to phones during daytime hours to make outgoing calls. For complete details on how to call an inmate in New York, please click here.

How to Send Money

Programs For Inmates

The inmate programs at Wallkill 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.

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.

College Program

Through the Criminal Justice Initiative, inmates at Wallkill who have a high school diploma or GED can earn an NYU Associate’s Degree in Liberal Arts.

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.

Horse Handling and Care

The Horse Handling and Care Program provides in-stable training in grooming, feed and feeding, first aid, anatomy/physiology and stable management. The goal of the Horse Handling Course is to provide the student with entry level skills as a horse handler. There are no admission requirements.

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. 

Optical Shop

The Optical Shop offers an opportunity to learn and practice all aspects of optical technology, from grinding to the inspection of lenses and bifocals. The operation and maintenance of various production equipment is taught, as well as the use of intricate and precise machinery used in the optical trade.

Participants are first assigned to the vocational side of the shop and placed in the production shop as openings are available. Applicants must agree to remain in the program for 10 months. 

This program has a high rate of success in placement of graduates. Students are provided an opportunity to acquire job skills and 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. High school diploma or HSE is required to participate.

Puppies Behind Bars

Puppies Behind Bars trains incarcerated individuals to raise puppies as service dogs for wounded war veterans, as well as explosive detection canines for law enforcement and first responders. The puppies live with the puppy raisers for the duration of the basic training of commands and routines.  The puppy raisers learn to groom, feed, water, exercise, and train the puppies. Staff from a community organization, Puppies Behind Bars, teaches the coursework. 

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 throughout the state of New York.

Pictures of Wallkill Correctional Facility

Careers at Wallkill Correctional Facility