Washington Correctional Facility

Washington Correctional Facility is a medium-security prison for male inmates that is located in Comstock, 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 Washington Correctional Facility are on weekends and holidays from 7:30 AM to 2:00 PM. You must arrive by 1:00 PM to visit with your inmate. Inmates are allowed one visit per day, and a maximum of three adult visitors are allowed to visit 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 are allowed two food packages per month. Food items must be commercially or hermetically sealed and contain no alcohol. Please review the list of allowable items before sending your package. You can also send packages containing non-food items like clothing and tobacco.

How to Call an Inmate

How to Send Money

Programs For Inmates

The inmate programs at Washington 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.

Community Lifestyles

The Community Lifestyles Program is an open ended residential therapeutic program providing a structured dormitory program that supports the essential correctional goals of order and safety.

Program goals include:

• establishing housing unit teams of Correction Officers and Offender Rehabilitation Coordinators assigned to the housing unit.
• facility wide interdisciplinary team approach that assists behavioral monitoring and change.
• improving communication and collaboration among staff.

There is daily progress evaluation of both individual and community participation, as well as participation in all applicable programs and activities.

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.

Electrical Trades

This course provides instruction in basic electricity with emphasis on installing and servicing of all types of residential and commercial wiring systems. Skills taught include code interpretation, installation, and servicing of circuits and controls, use of testing equipment, reading of architectural drawings, and wiring schematics.

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.

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.

Metal Furniture Manufacturing

The Metal Furniture Shops involve the preparation and assembly of special metal projects, including beds, office furniture, and security screens. Some participants are taught the use of gas and arc welders, presses, and other metal fabricating machines. The assembly section of this shop includes attaching upholstered seat backs and the spray painting of the product.

Small Engine Repair

The Small Engine Repair course provides training in the repair and maintenance of lawn and garden equipment, recreational vehicles, and motorcycles. Students learn troubleshooting, including testing, diagnosis, and repair. Skills taught include major engine overhaul, ignition testing and servicing, fuel system servicing and repair, mower blade replacement and servicing, power drive and transmitting systems, and understanding schematics and specifications.

Special Education

The Special Education Program provides intensive one-on-one and small group instruction to students under 21 years of age identified as having a disability. The goal of this program is to tailor learning activities to the diagnosed needs of students with a disability to enable them to achieve learning objectives and, where appropriate, to successfully participate in the regular academic program.

Title I

Title I is a federally funded remedial education program for incarcerated individuals ages 21 and under that provides instruction in basic education skills to supplement their regular ABE, HSE, or Occupational Training program.

The Title I Vocational and Career Counseling Program provides individual and/or small group exploration into the world of work. Interest and skill assessments are conducted to help develop career and vocational plans for the post-release period. Transition plans are developed enhancing awareness about preparing for reentry and positive participation upon return to the community.

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 in the state of New York. 

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.

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