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| History of violence plagues prison where breakout occurred |
| By thedailynewsonline.com |
| Published: 06/09/2015 |
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UPDATE: 7:51 a.m.: ALBANY (AP) — The maximum-security prison where two killers pulled off a “Shawshank Redemption”-style escape has a reputation for brutality that belies the reform-minded ideals it was founded upon when it opened on an Adirondack mountainside in 1845. Back then, the Dannemora state prison a few miles from the Canadian border was supposed to be the beacon of a new reform movement that advocated humane treatment of prisoners instead of the torture practiced downstate at Sing Sing. In keeping with that philosophy, the warden didn’t even punish two inmates who escaped a month after the prison opened and were quickly recaptured in the harsh surrounding landscape. “That reform mindset didn’t last,” said Jeff Hall, a history professor at Queensborough Community College who wrote his doctoral dissertation on Adirondack prisons. “Within a decade, Dannemora was using a dungeon for solitary confinement, as well as a chair bath, which was basically waterboarding. As more and more prisoners were sent there, it became ungovernable.” Today, nearly two centuries later, the 3,000-inmate prison retains an infamous reputation for brutality that ranks it among the worst in the New York state prison system. Read More. |
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