Green Haven Correctional Facility
Green Haven Correctional Facility is a maximum security prison in New York, United States. The prison is located in the Town of Beekman in Dutchess County. The New York State Department of Correctional Services lists the address as Route 216, Stormville, NY 12582. This prison housed New York's death row during the time the state briefly had the death penalty (but never used it) in the post-Furman era. New York's electric chair "old sparky" was moved here from the Ossining prison. Inmates and correctional officers at Green Haven were featured in the PBS FRONTLINE program A Class Divided.[1]
It was originally a federal prison and now houses maximum security inmates.
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[edit] Notable inmates
- Ronald DeFeo, Jr., tried and convicted of killing his parents and four siblings at their home in Amityville, New York. The case inspired Jay Anson's novel The Amityville Horror.
- James McBratney, a convicted bank robber kidnapped Emanuel Gambino, the son of Thomas Gambino and nephew of Gambino crime family patriarch Carlo Gambino and murdered by John Gotti, Angelo Ruggiero and Ralph Galione in a highly publicized mob execution
- Robert Golub, convicted for the murder of 13 year old Kelly Anne Tinyes, who lived five doors away from his home. She was killed inside his home in Valley Stream NY on March 3, 1989. On March 3, 2009, this case was reopened.
- John Giuca, whose trial has been the subject of intense media attention following his mother's undercover operation to expose juror misconduct.
- John Gotti
- Nicky Barnes
- Joey Gallo
[edit] Correction Officers' death
There have been at least two deaths of correction officers in the line of duty.
The first was of Donna Payant on May 15, 1981 who disappeared while working at the prison and was later found in a garbage dump 20 miles away, sexually violated and strangled to death. The condition of her body was similar to that of victims of serial killer Lemuel Smith who was an inmate at the prison. A bite mark on Payant's chest also matched the teeth pattern of Smith. It was determained that Smith had sexually assaulted and strangled Payant in the prison chaplain's office before putting her in a trash bag and throwing her body out with the trash.
On January 31, 2007, a Correction Officer in Tower One was found dead due to an apparent gunshot wound to the head. Fire and police were dispatched around 10:30 p.m., when they found the hatch to the ladder blocked, they used a Beekman Fire Department ladder truck to break in and get access. The tower was closed for investigation, and the death was deemed a suicide.[2]
[edit] Previous lethal injection facility
Capital punishment was reinstated in New York in 1995, fulfilling Governor Pataki's campaign pledge. In 2004, in People v. LaValle, the New York Court of Appeals struck down the statute as unconstitutional under the New York Constitution (at the time, only two individuals were under a sentence of death). Although several individuals were sentenced to death, none were executed, and the Court of Appeals later commuted the sentence of the final individual under a sentence of death in New York (People v. John Taylor, 2007). In 2008, Governor Paterson ordered the lethal injection equipment removed.
[edit] Successes
- The Alternatives to Violence Project was conceived at the prison in 1975 as a workshop.
[edit] Bard Prison Initiative
The Bard Prison Initiative, which seeks to reduce rates of recidivism and offer prisoners college education and tutoring, operates at multiple prisons including Green Haven.
[edit] References
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C07EFDE123FF931A35751C0A9619C8B63 NY Times Article On Guard Suicide.
[edit] External links
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Coordinates: 41°34′49″N 73°43′00″W / 41.58028°N 73.7166667°W
