CANY Releases Report Following Monitoring at Greene Correctional Facility
July 21, 2026
Contact: media@correctionalassociation.org
Staff Treatment, Deteriorating Infrastructure, Lack of Access to Programs, and Staffing Shortages Among Top Concerns
Brooklyn, NY — The Correctional Association of New York (CANY) has released a report on Greene Correctional Facility, a medium-security facility for men 18 years or older in Coxsackie, New York. The report includes observations and findings from a two-day monitoring visit to the prison in February 2025, conducted as part of CANY’s oversight mandate pursuant to Correction Law §146.
During the monitoring visit, CANY representatives interviewed individuals in General Population (GP), Residential Rehabilitation (RRU), and Special Housing (SHU) units. The team also met with facility leadership, medical staff, Office of Mental Health (OMH) staff, the Incarcerated Liaison Committee (ILC), the Incarcerated Grievance Resolution Committee (IGRC), and incarcerated representatives of religious denominations. CANY representatives conducted visual observations of housing units, mess halls, the package room, the mailroom, recreation yards, academic and vocational classrooms, the commissary, the law library, and the general library.
Key findings:
Staff-Incarcerated Individual Interactions: 58% of incarcerated individuals CANY interviewed reported seeing or experiencing abuse by staff at Greene, a rate that is 16 percentage points higher than a sample of other medium-security facilities recently monitored by CANY. While some incarcerated individuals described neutral interactions with staff, many raised concerns about verbal abuse, inconsistent rule enforcement, and inappropriate use of force. Reports of racialized abuse were also 9 percentage points higher compared to a sample of other medium-security facilities.
Infrastructure: Individuals at the facility raised concerns about infrastructure and maintenance, with the most frequently described problems surrounding plumbing and maintenance delays, including leaking sinks and malfunctioning toilets.
Access to Programs: Interviewees commonly cited extended waitlists, limited capacity, and instructor vacancies that resulted in closed vocational programs.
Staffing: Facility leadership reported that the ongoing staffing shortages at Greene were substantial and contributed to staff being mandated to work double shifts, straining the ability to ensure the facility’s safety and proper functioning.
The full report is available at:
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.
