CANY Releases Report following Monitoring at Adirondack Correctional Facility
Findings Reveal Positive Culture, Aging Infrastructure at Prison in Adirondack Park
**For Immediate Release**
October 9, 2025
Contact: media@correctionalassociation.org
Brooklyn, NY — The Correctional Association of New York (CANY) has released a report on Adirondack Correctional Facility, a medium-security facility for men over the age of forty in Ray Brook, New York. The report includes observations, and findings from the September 2024 monitoring visit to the prison, conducted as part of CANY’s oversight mandate pursuant to Correction Law §146(3).
Originally a tuberculosis sanatorium until the 1960s, Adirondack Correctional Facility has undergone several conversions through the decades, from drug treatment center for women to an adolescent offender facility. Adirondack Correctional Facility is the only operating state prison inside the Blue Line of Adirondack Park.
During the visit, CANY representatives conducted 26 interviews with incarcerated people, representing 15% of the facility's population, and conducted visual observations across the prison. CANY representatives also met with facility leadership, medical and mental health staff, the Incarcerated Liaison Committee (ILC), and the Incarcerated Grievance Resolution Committee (IGRC).
Key findings include:
Staff-Incarcerated Individual Interactions: Respondents cited relatively positive interactions between incarcerated individuals and staff. Only 20% of interviewees reported verbal or physical abuse, which is 28 percentage points lower than the average across other medium-security facilities CANY has recently monitored.
Perceptions of the Grievance Program: Respondents filed grievances at a rate of 30 percentage points higher than the average of recently monitored medium security facilities, and perceived fairness of the process at a rate of 46 percentage points higher than the average.
Residential Rehabilitation Unit (RRU): Individuals incarcerated in the facility’s RRU, a disciplinary unit created under the HALT law, reported at least seven hours of out-of-cell time, including one hour of recreation daily. Programming in the RRU was described by respondents as therapeutic.
Health Care: Respondents indicated a high level of satisfaction with general medical and dental care, though some noted significant delays in accessing specialty care and surgical procedures.
Material Conditions: Concerns about broken microwaves, limited toilets (3 for 50 people), and cold rooms due to poor window insulation were reported to CANY monitors. Some incarcerated people noted that state-issued boots were uncomfortable and hazardous for navigating stairs and slippery surfaces, particularly for older adults.
“Our monitoring findings from Adirondack Correctional Facility suggest opportunities for DOCCS to identify and replicate best practices elsewhere,” said Jennifer Scaife, Executive Director of the Correctional Association of New York (CANY). “While the facility experienced some of the same challenges we’ve observed at others in the state—including long wait times for outside medical treatment and challenges posed by aging infrastructure—the several indicators pointed to a positive culture at the facility, resulting in better living and working conditions.”
The full report is available here:
About CANY
CANY, under §146, of New York’s Correction Law, is charged with visiting and examining the state's correctional facilities to identify and report on prison conditions, the treatment of incarcerated individuals, and the administration of policy promulgated by the executive and legislature. Founded in 1844 by concerned citizens of the state and deputized by the state to provide monitoring and oversight of the state’s prisons in 1846, CANY is one of the first organizations in the country prescribed to administer civilian oversight of prisons.
