Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women

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Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women
Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, the only maximum security prison for women in the State of New York- 2014-04-24 10-10.jpg
Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women
Location247 Harris Road Bedford Hills, New York
StatusOperational
Security classMaximum
Capacity921 [1]
Population556 [2] (as of July 1, 2021)
Opened1901
Managed by NYS DOCCS
Street address247 Harris Road
City Bedford Hills
State/province NY
ZIP Code10507-2400

Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women, a women's prison in the town of Bedford, New York, [3] is the largest New York State women's prison. The prison previously opened under the name Westfield State Farm in 1901. [4] It lies just outside the hamlet and census-designated place Bedford Hills, New York. [5]

Contents

Facility

Bedford Hills Correctional Facility (formerly Bedford Hills Correctional Institution) is one of three New York facilities exclusively for women, the others being Albion Correctional Facility, and Taconic Correctional Facility. Taconic, a medium/minimum-security prison, lies directly across the street from Bedford Hills, while Albion is located in western New York between Rochester and Buffalo. [6]

The site has been known as the New York State Reformatory for Women at Bedford Hills, and later as Westfield State Farm. [4] Under the name Westfield State Farm, it housed 487 women in 1930, and 645 in 1940. [7]

Census Enumeration of Westfield State Farm (1940) 1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - New York - Westchester County - ED 60-11, ED 60-12, ED 60-13, ED 60-14 - NARA - 5856131.jpg
Census Enumeration of Westfield State Farm (1940)

A prison nursery was first established upon the opening of the prison, in 1901. The current incarnation, Bedford Hills' family-centered program, was founded by Sister Elaine Roulet. It has served as a model for other prison programs in the United States and is considered the standard for innovative family-centered programs. [8] Mothers incarcerated there are separate from the general population, in the Infant Development Center located on a single floor of one of the buildings. Those who wish to participate in the program must not have had any involvement with child welfare authorities in the past, nor can anyone who has been convicted of a violent crime. Children are allowed to stay in the nursery until 12 months (one year), although this can be extended up to 18 months (1+1⁄2 years) so the mother can be released with her child. As of 2015 it is the longest operating prison nursery in the U.S. [9]

In the post– Furman v. Georgia period, from the time New York reinstated the death penalty in 1995 until its repeal in 2007, Bedford Hills prison was designated as having the state death row for women. [10] However, New York State did not execute anyone during that time, nor since 1963.

Political unrest and due process

In 1974, in what came to be called the August Rebellion, the prisoners briefly took over parts of the prison in reaction to guards' assault on Carol Crooks, an incarcerated woman organizing for prisoners' rights. [11] [12] About 200 of the 450-plus incarcerated women rebelled in protest of the inhumane treatment of Crooks at Bedford Hills. The order directing such compliance had been in effect since 1975.

The prisoners won a subsequent civil-action lawsuit, initiated by Elizabeth Powell, that led to greater protections of Fourth Amendment (due process) rights for incarcerated people, in Powell v. Ward (1976). [13]

Following the 1974 rebellion, the prison administration failed to give legal due process in prison disciplinary hearings. Incarcerated women who had been held in solitary confinement brought a lawsuit for violation of due process. They won a $127,000 fund from an out-of-court settlement reached in 1981 after a federal District Court "held state authorities in contempt for failing to provide due process for inmates involved in disciplinary hearings." [14]

A prisoners' committee chose to spend the fund for improving prison life; the top priority was a $10,000 lobbying fund to be used to press for merit time legislation to allow time off for good behavior. [14] The committee's purchases also included word processors and a copier; recreational equipment such as roller skates; and legal services, including paying for lobbying to have merit time eligibility expanded under state law. [14] An uprising in the prison in November, 1981, that resulted in disciplinary reports against 61 inmates. The reports were exactly the opposite of the court's ruling, Mr. Coughlin observed, adding, You can't throw away due process by whim. The administrative staff was all demoted or transferred, and the disciplinary charges against the inmates were dropped. Thomas A. Coughlin, State Corrections Commissioner, stated in 1982 that the troubles at Bedford were the fault of the previous local administration. [14]

Notable people incarcerated at Bedford Hills

Felsted School students perform 'Cabaret' at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility (circa 2014) Bedford Hills Cabaret.jpg
Felsted School students perform 'Cabaret' at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility (circa 2014)

See also

The Bedford Hills Correctional Facility participates in the program Puppies Behind Bars. PBB trains prison inmates to raise service dogs for wounded war veterans and first responders, as well as explosive-detection canines for law enforcement. [37] [38]

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References

  1. ↑ "Bedford Hills Correctional Facility" (PDF). Correctional Association of New York. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 13, 2016. Retrieved September 4, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Public Library System Services for State Correctional Facility Libraries Program". New York State Library. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
  3. ↑ "2020 Census - Census Block Map: Bedford town, NY" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau. p. 1 (PDF p. 2/5). Retrieved August 22, 2022. Bedford Hills Corr Facility
  4. 1 2 "New York State Department of Correctional Services Bedford Hills Correctional Facility Inmate Case Files". New York State Archives. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  5. ↑ "2020 Census - Census Block Map: Bedford Hills CDP, NY" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau . Retrieved August 22, 2022. Bedford Hills Corr Facility
  6. ↑ "New York State Department of Corrections Facility Listing". Archived from the original on September 23, 2006. Retrieved October 28, 2005.. Retrieved on July 8, 2011.
  7. ↑ "1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - New York - Westchester County". U.S. Census Bureau . Retrieved November 13, 2013.
  8. ↑ Encyclopedia of American Prisons, by Marilyn D. McShane, Franklin P. Williams
  9. ↑ Yager, Sarah (July 2015). "Prison Born". The Atlantic . Retrieved September 4, 2018.
  10. ↑ " "Repeal of Death Sentence Regulations (Section 103.45 of 7 NYCRR)". Archived from the original on August 8, 2010." (). New York State Department of Correctional Services. Retrieved on September 2, 2010. "Repeal regulations requiring death sentence warrants to be provided to the Commissioner and persons sentenced to death to be delivered to Clinton and Bedford Hills Correctional Facilities (death row)[...]"
  11. ↑ "Nor Meekly Serve Her Time: Riots and Resistance in Women's Prisons". January 12, 2010.
  12. ↑ "Correctional Association of New York: Correctional Association of New York: A Force for Progressive Change in the Criminal Justice System Since 1844". www.correctionalassociation.org. Retrieved March 22, 2017.
  13. ↑ Powell v. Ward, 542F 2d.101 (U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit17 Sept 1976).
  14. 1 2 3 4 Melvin, Tessa (May 23, 1982). "Bedford Inmates Decide Fund Use". New York Times. Retrieved July 11, 2021.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Silver, Kate. " "How Mya Saved Jacob". Archived from the original on August 8, 2010. Retrieved January 16, 2011.." Spirit Magazine . Retrieved on January 15, 2011.
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "New York State Department of Corrections Inmate Population Information Search". Archived from the original on April 20, 2008. Retrieved July 9, 2011.. Retrieved on July 8, 2011.
  17. ↑ Robbins, Tom (January 12, 2012). "Judith Clark's Radical Transformation". The New York Times. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
  18. ↑ "Nor Meekly Serve Her Time: Riots and Resistance in Women's Prisons". newpol.org. January 12, 2010. Retrieved March 22, 2017.
  19. ↑ "The Jean Harris Case". TruTV Crime Library. Archived from the original on April 3, 2014. Retrieved November 24, 2008.
  20. ↑ Berger, Joseph (January 24, 1993). "January 17–23: Former Headmistress Freed; Jean Harris, 69 and Frail, Paroled for 1980 Murder". The New York Times . Retrieved December 3, 2014.
  21. ↑ Schulman, Sarah (2021). Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993 (1 ed.). New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 241–267. ISBN   9780374185138.
  22. ↑ The case is People v Hylton, 564 N.Y.S. 2d 746 (lst Dep't 1991).
  23. ↑ "Crime and Punishment". Psychology Today. July 1995.
  24. ↑ [USDC Southern District of New York, Case 1:07-cv-03835-RPP Final Order on Appeal "Meet Google Drive – One place for all your files".]
  25. ↑ "Black Widow Barbara Kogan's 'Sentencing Delayed So Son Can Finally Face Mom in Court'". DNAInfo.com. May 19, 2010. Archived from the original on August 26, 2011.
  26. ↑ Scott, Cathy. The Millionaire's Wife. MacMillan. Archived from the original on May 4, 2012. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
  27. ↑ "Reference at www.abcnews.go.com". ABC News .
  28. ↑ "Police charge NYC nanny in stabbing death of kids". USA TODAY. Retrieved February 8, 2024.
  29. ↑ "New York nanny who killed kids, pleaded insanity is convicted of murder". NBC News. April 19, 2018. Retrieved February 8, 2024.
  30. ↑ Staff, Crimesider (May 14, 2018). ""Killer nanny" Yoselyn Ortega sentenced to life in prison in slayings of kids in her care - CBS News". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved February 8, 2024.
  31. ↑ "Woman in Plot to Kill Husband Shifts Prisons". The New York Times . March 12, 1993. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
  32. ↑ Singleton, Don (June 18, 1995). "Whatever Happened to..? The Art of Doing Time". New York Daily News. Retrieved July 8, 2011.[ permanent dead link ]
  33. ↑ Wilson, Michael (April 26, 2019). "Her 'Prince Charming' Turned Out to Be a Crazed Hit Man on the Run". The New York Times. Retrieved May 8, 2019.
  34. ↑ "Hired Killer Sentenced". The Evening Press. Binghamton, NY. November 11, 1980. p. 7–A.
  35. ↑ "'Hitwoman' charged in 6 slayings". Pacific Stars and Stripes. Japan. UPI. February 16, 1980. p. 7.
  36. ↑ Ali, Saba; Wilson, Geoffrey (November 20, 2020). "Nicole Addimando murder case to be featured on CBS' '48 Hours' Saturday". Poughkeepsie Journal. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
  37. ↑ "Mission & History – Puppies Behind Bars". December 15, 2017.
  38. ↑ "Reference at www.puppiesbehindbars.com" (PDF).

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