From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Clinton Correctional Facility is a
maximum-security New York
state prison located in the Adirondack village of Dannemora. It is
sometimes colloquially referred to as "Dannemora," although it
takes its name from its location in Clinton County. Its walls go
right up to streets in Dannemora's main business district. A church
built by inmates - St. Dismas - is located within the walls. It is
sometimes referred to as "New York's Siberia" due to the cold
climate in Dannemora, and the isolation of the area. It is the
largest maximum security prison and the third
oldest prison in New York State.
Clinton Correctional Wall Tower
History
Built in 1865, it originally served as a site where prisoners
were used to work in local mines in both Dannemora and nearby Lyon Mountain. This enterprise
would not be profitable, and by 1877, mining had ended, and the
prisoners were put to work on other trades. With this change, the
prison experienced growth, and in 1887 it was given new concrete
walls more than 60 feet (18 m) tall that still stand. In 1895, the
first prisoner was executed in the electric chair at the prison, beginning
the use of capital punishment at Clinton
Correctional. This period also saw many prisoners cured of tuberculosis due in
part to the clean air in the Adirondacks, leading to the
importation of prisoners with this disease from other prisons.
In 1899, a mental health facility, the Dannemora State Hospital,
was built on the grounds to house prisoners who became insane
whilst serving their sentence. Such prisoners were retained in the
facility if they remained insane following the completion of their
sentence.[1]
In 1929, Clinton Correctional witnessed a riot which, coupled
with riots in other prisons in that year, led to prison reform in
New York State. This led to the building of schools in the prison,
and the renovation or rebuilding of most of the structures within
the prison walls, making the facility more modern. The church of
St. Dismas was built in 1941. In the latter half of the 20th
century, the prison's mental institutions closed and were converted
into an annex to house more prisoners.
Notable
inmates
- 2Pac (real
name Tupac Shakur) - Served 11 and a half months
on a sexual abuse conviction in February 1995 before being released
on appeal.
- Gregory
Corso - Italian-American poet, one the inner circle of "The
Beat Generation" along with Kerouac, Ginsberg and Burroughs.
Sentenced at 17, Corso served about three years for stealing a
suit.
- Charles "Lucky" Luciano - One of the
driving forces behind the development of Italian organized crime in
the United States served 10 years of a 30- to 50-year sentence for
running a prostitution ring before being deported to Italy after World War II.
- John Resko - Author of bestseller "Reprieve: The testament of
John Resko" (1958), the basis for the Ben Gazzara/Sammy Davis Jr.
movie "Convicts
4"
- Hell Rell (real name
Durell Mohammad) - served nearly 28 months on a
criminal sale of a controlled substance conviction from 2002 to
2004.
- Ol'
Dirty Bastard (real name Russell Tyrone Jones)
- Served nearly 17 months on a criminal possession of a controlled
substance conviction in 2001 and 2002.
- Michael Alig -
10-year sentence due to the murder of his drug dealer in the late
'90s.
- Robert Chambers - the "preppy
murderer", who served much of his sentence for the killing of Jennifer Levin here, as well as a later
sentence for drug possession after heroin was found in his cell and new criminal
charges were brought.
- Kenny Kimes - Son of murderess Sante Kimes and American con artist is
serving a life sentence for the murder of New York
City socialite Irene
Silverman.
- Jesse Friedman - One of the subjects of the
2003 documentary film, Capturing the Friedmans;
convicted of sodomy and sexual abuse charges related to child
molestation in the 1980's.
- Richard
Bilello - Lucchese crime family associate
and convicted murderer.
- David Gilbert - Serving life
in prison. Arrested with members of the Black Liberation Army and
other radicals following a botched Brinks armored car robbery in 1981.
- John
Jamelske - Mass-kidnapper and serial rapist serving 18 years to
life.[2]
- Vincent
Johnson, the serial killer known as "Brooklyn Strangler",
currently serving a life sentence for the murders of five
prostitutes in 1999 and 2000.
- Marlon
Legere - Serving life without parole in connection with the
brutal shooting deaths of NYPD detectives Robert Parker and Patrick
Rafferty in Brooklyn.
- Carl Panzram -
Serial killer, 1923-1928
- Daniel
Pelosi - Convicted of murder and jury tampering[1]
- Shyne (real name
Moses Michael Leviy) - Since 2001, serving a
sentence of 8 to 10 years on convictions of assault, criminal
weapons possession, and reckless endangerment. He is scheduled for
release on October 6, 2009. Released and deported back to his
native Belize
- Ralph Bucky Phillips - Sentenced to life
without parole for the shooting of 3 New
York State troopers in 2006 after escaping from jail.
- Christopher Porco - Serving 50 years
to life for the November 15, 2004 ax murder of his father and
attempted murder of his mother in their Delmar, New York home.
- Joel Rifkin -
referred to as "Joel the Ripper" by tabloids after a 5-year killing
spree. Murdered 18 women, prostitutes and drug addicts, and is
currently serving 203 years to life.
- Julio
Gonzalez - perpetrator of the 1990 Happy Land Fire in
the Bronx
which killed 87 people.
- John Taylor - Sentenced to death for shooting seven employees
of a Wendy's restaurant in Queens, NY, killing five and seriously
injuring two. Taylor was re-sentenced to life without parole. See
Wendy's_massacre.
- Richard Angelo - A nurse convicted of murder.
- Luis Rosado - Inmate charged with the murder of Larry Davis, who shot
six police officers in 1986, at the Shawangunk Correctional
Facility during recreation.
- Maino an American rapper
from Brooklyn, New York charged for numerous
street and gunpoint crimes
- Martin
Tankleff - former Belle Terre, NY resident freed after his
conviction for killing his wealthy parents Arlene and Seymour
Tankleff was overturned citing evidence that others committed the
murders.
- Eric Smith - brutally killed and
sexually assaulted a 4 year old boy at the age of 13
- Altemio Sanchez - is an American serial killer who murdered at
least three women and raped at least 14 others in and around
Buffalo, New York, over a span of 25 years (1981-2006). He is also
known as The Bike Path Rapist
References
See also
External
links
Coordinates: 44°43′25″N 73°43′15″W / 44.72361°N
73.72083°W / 44.72361;
-73.72083
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