CANY Releases Report from Monitoring at Sing Sing Correctional Facility
CANY has released a report of observations and recommendations from our monitoring visit to Sing Sing Correctional Facility in February 2022. This briefing document also includes a written response from the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS).
Under its unique state mandate, CANY conducts monitoring visits to all 44 prisons in the state, during which representatives speak with prison administrators, union representatives, and incarcerated individuals. Following these visits, CANY issues reports to inform stakeholders of key issues identified at each prison and makes recommendations to address the most salient concerns. In recent months, CANY released similar reports on monitoring at Great Meadow, Clinton, Downstate, and Bedford Hills Correctional Facilities.
CANY’s monitoring at Sing Sing identified concerns with the prison’s antiquated physical structure, lack of stationary surveillance cameras and use of body cameras, and organizational processes that impede Sing Sing’s ability to provide a rehabilitative environment. Observations during monitoring also uncovered positive perceptions of Sing Sing as a result of the prison’s proximity to New York City and because of the extensive availability of academic and vocational programs.
In this post-visit briefing, CANY makes 11 facility-specific and 10 system-wide recommendations based on overall findings from Sing Sing. Among these recommendations, CANY suggests that DOCCS replicate the scale and quality of Sing Sing’s programming statewide; DOCCS consider extensive evidence demonstrating the immense value many incarcerated people and their families from the Downstate region place on proximity to New York City in determining placement for people from the New York City metro area; and DOCCS expedite the installation of fixed cameras, expand the use of body cameras at Sing Sing, and ensure that footage from cameras is readily accessible to oversight bodies and the public.
Post-Visit Briefing and Recommendations Report
No.22-05: Monitoring Visit to Sing Sing Correctional Facility | February 7-9, 2022
