By Kim Smith Dedam
Press-Republican
DANNEMORA — The Tailor Shop at Clinton Correctional Facility is part of a $48 million state prison industry called the Division of Correctional Industries, or Corcraft.
It’s the oldest in the United States, according to a directive put out in April 2014 by the State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, started in the early 1800s at Auburn Prison and organized officially as Corcraft in 1893.
Various products are made in different prisons, contributing commodities for institutional use at places such as SUNY and New York City’s sanitation department.
“By law, Corcraft can sell goods and services only to public entities and charitable organizations,” DOCCS said.
‘INVESTIGATION ONGOING’
Through the program, inmates gain on-the-job training to further vocational education, according to a Correctional Association Report issued in April this year, earning 25 to 50 cents an hour.
DOCCS spokeswoman Linda Foglia said fewer than 400 inmates work in the Tailor Shops in the main Clinton prison facility and the Annex combined; the total population is around 2,000.
She wouldn’t further talk about the Corcraft program at the Dannemora facility, citing the ongoing investigations into the June 6 escape.
It appears much of the alleged collaboration between Tailor Shop Supervisor Joyce Mitchell, a civilian, and inmates Richard Matt and David Sweat occurred in the shop setting.
PRODUCTIVE PROGRAMS
All inmates, no matter the crime or the amount of time being served, have access to a job, recalled former inmate Erik Jensen.
“Everybody from all prison blocks, except the SHU (Special Housing Unit), were allowed to work in the Tailor Shop.”
The DOCCS directive says inmates at Clinton produce correction-officer uniforms, inmate clothing and “various other speciality items.”
Jensen said that when he was there, Tailor Shop workers sewed lab coats, green sweatshirts, uniforms and underwear for use in state prisons.
They also crafted a special type of hazardous materials suit used by prisoners who were learning asbestos abatement trades, he said.
Other manufacturing shops in the state system include license-plate production at Auburn Correctional, metal products such as file cabinets, lockers and sign posts at Attica; and engraving of signs, plaques and name badges for DOCCS and other departments at Albion.
SUPER-MAX FACILITY
There is no Corcraft industry at Five Points, where Clinton escapee Sweat was moved last Sunday after treatment for his gunshot wounds at Albany Medical Center.
Matt was shot and killed during the manhunt for the pair that involved at least 1,000 law-enforcement officers and ended in Franklin County.
Known as a super-max, Five Points is a maximum-security prison with cameras watching all inmates and officers at all times.
Sweat has a cell in the Special Housing Unit, where he spends 23 hours a day with one hour daily for recreation.
‘KEEP THEM BUSY’
Correction officers and prison inmates alike say the value of prison industry, like Corcraft, is an important part of life inside, no matter what the crime.
“They say once you come into DOCCS, they won’t deny you a job because of the crime you’re in for. Everything outside doesn’t affect what you do inside,” Jensen said.
Jay Moran is a retired correction officer from Utica.
He is co-host of an online corrections podcast show called “Hacks With Loose Screws.”
“Even though they are lifers, doesn’t mean they don’t get jobs, programs, etc. Remember the punishment is the sentence to prison, not necessarily prison,” Moran said via email.
“You want to make (inmates) active members of society, in prison, compared to warehousing animals.
“I know it probably doesn’t make sense to you, but it does to us. By keeping convicts active, busy, etc., it gives them less time, mostly, to harass staff.”