New York Prisons | DOC | Prison Inmate Search

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New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision - Prisons & Inmate Search

New York State Prisons and Juvenile Facilities

Few states have prison history as long, or as famous, as New York. The state opened Newgate prison in Greenwich Village in 1797, then Auburn in 1817, and in 1825 Auburn prisoners were sent down the Hudson to build Sing Sing in Ossining. Today’s system is run by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS), which was formed on April 1, 2011, when the Department of Correctional Services merged with the Division of Parole. Its headquarters are in Albany.

A system that has shrunk by half

On July 1, 2026, DOCCS held 34,066 people in 41 prisons, about 53% fewer than the 72,649 held at the end of 1999. As the population fell, the state closed 27 prisons between 2011 and 2026, most recently Bare Hill in Franklin County in March 2026. Officials said no further closures were expected the following year. Because the list is long, it helps to think of the prisons by type:

Maximum security: including Attica, Auburn, Clinton (Dannemora), Coxsackie, Eastern NY, Elmira, Five Points, Green Haven and Sing Sing
Medium security: including Fishkill, Franklin, Gouverneur and Greene
Minimum security and treatment: including Edgecombe in Manhattan, a residential treatment facility for men and women
Women’s prisons: Bedford Hills (maximum security), Taconic and Albion

The 2025 strike and a staffing crisis

In February 2025, thousands of correction officers walked off the job in an illegal strike that lasted about three weeks. They cited violence and working conditions and demanded repeal of the HALT Act, the 2021 law that limits solitary confinement. The state fired about 2,000 officers, later rehiring more than 900, and sent in the National Guard. About 2,700 Guard members were still working inside prisons a year later, at a cost of more than $1 billion. DOCCS had 11,216 officers, sergeants and lieutenants in July 2026, roughly half the 1999 level, and the strike caused lockdowns and canceled visits and programs at many prisons. The crisis followed the December 2024 beating death of Robert Brooks by officers at Marcy Correctional Facility, captured on body cameras, which drew national attention.

Where do new prisoners go first?

People sentenced to state prison are moved from the county jail or New York City’s jails to a DOCCS reception center. For more than 40 years most men from the New York City area went through Downstate Correctional Facility in Fishkill, which closed on March 10, 2022. Women are received at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Westchester County. Reception typically lasts a few weeks, during which staff complete medical exams, testing and classification before sending each person to a permanent prison. Check the online lookup often, because the location will change.

How to find an inmate in New York

Use the DOCCS Incarcerated Look-Up to search by name, DIN (Department Identification Number) or NYSID number. The DIN is the number to use on letters, packages and deposits.

New York and the death penalty

New York has no working death penalty. The state was the first in the world to use the electric chair, executing William Kemmler at Auburn on August 6, 1890, and nearly 700 people died in the chair, most of them at Sing Sing. The last execution took place in 1963. Lawmakers restored capital punishment in 1995, but no one was executed under that law. In 2004 the state’s highest court struck down the sentencing statute in People v. LaValle, the last remaining death sentence was reduced in 2007, and the execution equipment was removed in 2008.

Attica and other history

The Attica uprising of September 1971 remains one of the deadliest prison rebellions in U.S. history: 43 people died, 11 state workers and 32 incarcerated men, most of them when state police retook the prison. It led to grievance procedures and regular meetings between prisoners and administrators. Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora made headlines in 2015 when two men escaped and spent weeks on the run.

Juvenile facilities in New York

Young people placed by the courts in state custody are the responsibility of the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS), through its Division of Juvenile Justice and Opportunities for Youth. OCFS runs secure centers, such as Brookwood in Claverack and Goshen in Orange County, along with limited-secure and non-secure residential programs. Under the state’s Raise the Age law, phased in during 2018 and 2019, most 16- and 17-year-olds are no longer automatically prosecuted as adults, and youth under 18 are no longer held at Rikers Island or in state adult prisons. Youth awaiting court are held in county and New York City juvenile detention. Juvenile records are confidential, so families should contact OCFS directly.

To search for an inmate or juvenile, or to learn how to visit, call, write or send money to someone in the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision or Office of Children and Family Services, choose a facility from the list below.