CANY Releases Report on Riverview Correctional Facility
September 9, 2026
Contact: media@correctionalassociation.org
Report Cites Exceptionally High Rates of Reported Access to Programs Alongside Serious Concerns about Fairness and Staff Conduct
Brooklyn, NY — The Correctional Association of New York (CANY) has released a report on Riverview Correctional Facility, a medium-security facility for men 18 years or older in Ogdensburg, New York. The report includes observations and findings from a 2-day monitoring visit to the prison in June 2025, conducted as part of CANY’s oversight mandate pursuant to Correction Law §146(3).
During the monitoring visit, CANY representatives interviewed individuals in General Population (GP), General Confinement Restricted Unit (GCRU), and Special Housing (SHU) units. The team also met with facility leadership, union representatives, medical staff, the Incarcerated Liaison Committee (ILC), and the Incarcerated Grievance Resolution Committee (IGRC). Following the visit, CANY staff held a conference call with Office of Mental Health (OMH) staff.
Key findings include:
Programming & Recreation: Incarcerated individuals at Riverview reported the highest rate of access to academic and vocational programs compared to other medium-security facilities. The vast majority – 80% – of interviewees reported access to the academic and vocational programs they needed, which is the highest proportion of individuals reporting access to programs of any medium-security facility recently monitored by CANY.
Staff-Incarcerated Individual Interactions: Reports of abuse and racialized abuse at Riverview were the second highest of all medium-security facilities recently monitored by CANY. Most interviewees characterized their interactions with staff as negative. Of the individuals interviewed, 70% reported seeing or experiencing abuse by facility staff and 56% reported seeing or experiencing racialized abuse by staff at the facility.
Grievances: Riverview had the lowest rate of respondents who described the grievance system as fair when compared to other recently monitored medium-security facilities.
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.
