Correctional Association of New York Releases Monitoring Findings at Two State Prisons
**For Immediate Release**
October 9, 2025
Contact: media@correctionalassociation.org
Reports on Gouverneur and Cayuga Correctional Facilities Find Significant Strengths and Troubling Weaknesses at Each Prison
Brooklyn, NY — The Correctional Association of New York (CANY) has released two new Post Visit Briefing reports detailing findings from monitoring visits to Gouverneur Correctional Facility and Cayuga Correctional Facility. The reports on Gouverneur and Cayuga highlight both positive and negative findings at two similarly sized, medium-security correctional facilities.
Staff-Incarcerated Individual Interactions:
Gouverneur: 66% of respondents reported having seen or experienced verbal, physical, and/or sexual abuse by staff at Gouverneur. This is the third-highest rate among nine recently visited medium-security facilities and 16 percentage points higher than the average.
Cayuga: Reports of mistreatment by staff were lower than at most other facilities CANY has recently monitored.
Racial Abuse:
Gouverneur: 47% of respondents reported having seen or experienced racial abuse at the facility, which is 7 percentage points higher than the average.
Cayuga: 28% of respondents said they had seen or experienced racialized abuse by staff, a lower proportion compared to other medium-security prisons.
Medical and Dental Care:
Gouverneur: 94% of respondents reported receiving an adequate level of medical care—the highest rate observed among nine recently visited medium-security facilities. This rate exceeds the next highest by 24 percentage points and the average by 39 percentage points.
Cayuga: 55% of people interviewed reported receiving an adequate level of medical care, which is on par with the average reported elsewhere. Emergency response time was reported as better than average.
Programs and Recreation:
Gouverneur: While incarcerated individuals reported positive experiences with programs, it was also noted that many face long wait times to enroll in programs.
Cayuga: Most incarcerated individuals reported having access to needed academic and vocational programs. However, they also cited a need for expanded opportunities. The facility leadership noted working to introduce more college, theater, and computer programs.
Grievances and Retaliation:
Gouverneur: Respondents reported that many people chose not to file grievances due to fears of retaliation. Only 25% of respondents filed a grievance at Gouverneur, which is 14 percentage points lower than the average of all facilities CANY visited in the last 12 months.
Cayuga: 36% of respondents reported having filed a grievance at Cayuga, which is a higher share compared to other facilities in the sample.
Maintenance:
Gouverneur: Nearly all individuals interviewed in general population units confirmed that the equipment and fixtures in their living area worked properly.
Cayuga: Incarcerated individuals reported challenges with basic maintenance, including inoperable showers and washing machines, as well as concerns about mold in the living areas.
Residential Rehabilitation Unit (RRU):
Gouverneur: Individuals incarcerated in the RRU reported a general lack of access to out-of-cell programs and recreation time in the unit and hostility from staff
Cayuga: CANY representatives observed very engaged staff working to resolve issues in the RRU and documented strikingly positive reports of incarcerated individuals’ experiences there.
“Our findings at Gouverneur and Cayuga demonstrate that incarcerated individuals’ experiences can vary widely from one facility to another," said Jennifer Scaife, Executive Director of CANY. "At Gouverneur, for example, we found an exceptionally high rate of satisfaction with medical care, but numerous allegations of mistreatment by security staff which seemed to discourage individuals from filing grievances. In contrast, Cayuga had a lower proportion of people reporting abuse and a higher rate of grievance filing, but medical care and maintenance issues seemed to negatively impact people’s overall experience. We urge the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision to use CANY’s reports to replicate positive findings and establish uniform practices across all state prisons.”
The full reports are 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.
