Camp Gabriels

Sanitorium, college, prison camp: a century of uninterrupted use of one small plot of North Country land for three very different purposes.

Gabriels Sanitorium

As the turn of the century neared, several TB sanitorium were operating in the Adirondacks, whose cool, clear air was believed to be conducive to recovery from tuberculosis. The epidemic spread of the disease, however, was outstripping the capacities of the existing private sanitorium, most of which were too expensive for most people anyway. New York's Legislature had not yet authorized the state sanitorium which would open in nearby Ray Brook in 1902, and there was, in 1897, a critical need for a non-profit treatment facility. The Perpetual Help Kiernan of the Sisters of Mercy Order responded to the need.

Sister Mary and Sister McAuley began with only a log cabin a donkey and cart, and $15.00, Dr. Seward Webb and Mr. Paul Smith donated 100 acres of land. New York state followed with a grant of 600 additional acres.

The sisters opened their sanitorium in 1897 and named it after the Right Reverend Bishop Henry Gabriels, who had encouraged their efforts. The Gabriels Sanitorium treated patients whose condition was at least moderately advanced. Patients were not only treated for tuberculosis. They also were taught how the disease the leading killer of Americans at the time was spread and how it could be prevented. Most patients paid less than the cost of their stay, and about one in six was treated free of charge. The average stay was eight months.

The sanitorium flourished through the first half of the century, discharging nearly 70 percent of its patients to return to productive living. Then, during World War II, medical advances practically ended TB in the United States. As the number of patients dwindled, the sisters shifted their efforts to geriatric care. But by the 1960's, fund-raising efforts were chronically short. The sisters decided to sell the property.

Paul Smith's College

With the forestry program at Paul Smith's College growing in popularity, the small, private college decided to expand. In 1965, the college purchased the Gabriels Sanitorium property for $150,000. The sanitorium buildings served as housing and classroom space for forestry students

The Gabriels campus functioned well for several years. But toward the end of the 1970's, college enrollment declined. Many of the buildings went unused and began to deteriorate. In 1977, forestry classes were moved back to the main campus. By 1980, new dormitories had opened on the main campus, and Paul Smith's no longer needed an inconvenient and expensive extension three miles away. A buyer was found in the Department of Correctional Services, whose inmate population was in the midst of a prolonged growth period.

Camp Movement

Work on public lands was a long-established but not formalized activity for inmates of the state prisons. As long ago as the 1820's, crews of Auburn inmates worked on the Erie Canal, often remaining outside the prison for extended periods in temporary camps. Clinton in the 1930's erected a permanent camp building, with flush toilets and electricity, on the state-owned sawmill property. There, prisoners were engaged in logging, reforesting and road-building. Then, in 1955, the Legislature authorized youth forestry camps as independent institutions in the department.

The camps were created for the "purpose of treatment and rehabilitation of more hopeful offenders," as well as to contribute to the conservation of state forest lands. Camp Pharsalia, in 1956, was the first youth camp. It was followed by the establishment of additional camps at Monterey, Summit and Georgetown. Camp assignments were limited by law to males between the ages of 16 and 21. The age limit was raised to 25 in 1960 and later to 35.

The combination of healthy outdoor work and an environment of trust under minimum-security conditions was widely believed to develop character, self-reliance and law-abiding attitudes and habits. The age restrictions, similar to those that had always applied to reformatories, reflected the belief that younger inmates, not yet confirmed in criminal ways, were amenable to change. It also reflected that rehabilitative efforts, away from the corrupting influence of older criminals, had a realistic chance of success.

By the 1970's, however, correctional thinking had evolved to the point that there now existed a presumption that all inmates, regardless of age, were capable of reformation. Why not give older inmates the benefit of the character-building camp experience? Camp Adirondack for mature inmates was created on the grounds of the former Dannemora State Hospital. Camp Adirondack would soon be moved to Ray Brook, the site of the former state TB sanitorium. But five years later, in 1981, a fence was erected around the camp. It was upgraded to medium security and redesignated Adirondack Correctional Facility.

The very next year, to make up for the loss of the Ray Brook adult camp, the department opened a new facility - Camp Gabriels - 12 miles away on the property purchased from Paul Smith's College. By this time, all age restrictions for camp assignment had been eliminated. (they would emerge again a few years later in a new Shock Incarceration Program, a military variation sharing the traditional camps' stress on forestry work and community service.)

Camp Gabriels' Opening and Growth

In 1982, Paul Smith's College sold its 92-acre Gabriels campus to the state for $635,000 more than four times what it had paid the Sisters of Mercy. The state would use the site in its rapidly-growing system as a minimum-security forestry camp.

After acquiring the property, the Department made some preliminary renovations and then transferred in a first draft of inmates from neighboring Adirondack on August 30, 1982. These 25 men, selected for their building skills, immediately set to work refurbishing housing areas, enabling more inmates to be brought in.

The camp capacity gradually grew from 149 beds to 166 the next fall, to 201 in 1984 and then to 251 in 1987. New dorms were built in 1991 and 1993, increasing the number of beds to the camp's current level of 363.

When Camp Gabriels opened, a mild level of local concern was expressed over community safety, but the formation of a Citizens' Advisory Committee succeeded in overcoming any uneasiness about the new facility. The committee has functioned continuously since that time, usually meeting monthly to discuss mutual concerns and community service projects.

In addition to readying the housing areas, inmates also refurbished or constructed other buildings. A garage was built for vehicle maintenance. A loading dock was built outside the kitchen. A vocational building was erected, as was a building for state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) staff. A visiting room constructed by outside contractors -was completed early in 1984.

Inmates then set about refurbishing the chapel used by the Sisters of Mercy. The chapel now serves not only as a center for religious services and related activities, but also provides space for inmate organizations and educational classes.

A gymnasium was completed in 1985 and the next year a bus garage and an addition to the mess hall were completed. A new administration building was constructed in 1986. The bathroom/shower facilities were renovated, the wastewater treatment plant was upgraded and the boiler system in the power house was replaced. All camp roads were resurfaced.

Camp Program

The Camp Gabriels program is work - for the benefit of the state of New York and surrounding communities.

Consistent with 100-year-old camp tradition, Gabriels focuses on serving the DEC. A DEC senior forester and three foresters are permanently assigned to the camp to plan forestry projects and instruct and supervise inmate crews. Crews work on state land within a 50-mile radius of the camp, hut some-times venture farther. In 1995, for instance, camp inmates traveled 70 miles to Star Lake to clear trails after a blow-down. In-mates maintain state parks, saw lumber and make picnic tables at the DEC Lake Clear Saw Mill and also perform grounds work at a DEC fishery.

Another inmate crew is assigned to the Sunmount Developmental Center, where they perform a variety of grounds and maintenance work. In addition to work for state agencies, inmates also provide service to local governments. Crews serve the Brighton, Altamont, Franklin, North Elba and Saranac townships as needed, and a crew works at the Lake Placid Volunteer Fire Department on a permanent basis.

Camp Gabriels inmates also can always be found performing miscellaneous service for not-for-profit organizations such as restoring cemeteries and cutting grass in community parks. Inmates have cut trails and built observation platforms for Visitor Interpretive Centers, small nature parks set up by the Adirondack Park Agency. The interpretive centers are mainly intended to instill an appreciation for nature in school children, but are also used by birdwatchers and hikers.

Inmates generally appreciate the opportunity to work outdoors on projects whose value is immediately apparent. The mostly urban inmates do surprisingly well in the unfamiliar north country terrain and climate. Their work is of good quality, Officers say, though it sometimes furnishes slapstick moments.

"They've never even seen a lawnmower before," mused an Officer, and recalled an inmate on a runaway lawnmower, bouncing alongside Sunmount's bricked entrance road and leveling a flower bed.

Handling feisty pheasants can also be daunting for men whose whole prior wildlife experience consisted of dodging sidewalk-strutting pigeons. For the past several years, in a joint effort with DEC and the Franklin County Federation of Fish and Game Clubs, Gabriels has raised wild pheasants for release on public lands.

Another project for which the Camp Gabriels inmates are as enthusiastic as they are inexperienced is the sculpting of the Ice Palace for the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival, which they have been doing annually since 1984. It's North Country tradition that dates back to 1898 and one that state inmates have participated in for the past 23 years.

Like the residents of northern New York, the inmate builders must have a certain hardiness about them. Working outdoors in sometimes-oppressive winter conditions, the inmates help fashion ice blocks harvested from nearby Flower Lake blocks which weigh between 400 and 600 pounds -- into a picturesque, multi-level palace that measures some 80 feet in width and 50 feet in height.

Cut from Flower Lake with long ice saws reminiscent of a bygone era, the formidable blocks range from 1 to three feet in thickness. A conveyor belt slowly moves the huge blocks of ice to the shoreline. There, they are properly positioned under the watchful eyes of area notables who've overseen the annual construction process for decades, then secured by a slush-made mortar. Colored lights are then placed inside the completed palace that then glows in the cold northern New York nights.

For the most part, Mother Nature cooperates with the annual construction project -- but not always.

Take 1996, for instance. Inmates hit the work site in mid-January, lugging the massive blocks of ice from Flower Lake for that year's palace. After about 600 of the estimated 1,300 blocks needed for that year's sculpture were in place, an unexpected thaw hit, and the half-constructed palace melted.

Undaunted, the community and inmate workers regrouped. The second ice palace that year was subsequently completed in just over a week.

The community service crew inmates and COs who assist in the construction are honored annually at a community dinner sponsored by the organizers of the festival in appreciation of their efforts. Last year, they were treated to a prime rib dinner at the Saranac Lake Hotel.

The Department's involvement in the project began in 1977, with a crew of inmates from Adirondack. Camp Gabriels assumed that role in 1984.

All Gabriels inmates work a full day, five days a week. Evenings and weekends are their own. The men play basketball, lift weights and pursue other recreational activities outdoors or in the gymnasium. Others read or study in the dormitories. Outside community volunteers sponsor an AA group and provide leadership for other programs, primarily of a religious nature. Visits from family on weekends are more frequent than they once were, now that Gabriels is served by the Family Visiting Program.

Camp Gabriels has a staff of 156 employees, 102 of them security. The facility was first accredited by the ACA in 1990 and has been reaccredited twice, most recently in 1997.

A Visit room the Sisters of Mercy

Shortly before the 100th anniversary of the founding of their order, the Sisters of Mercy contacted Camp Gabriels. The sisters wondered whether they might be permitted to celebrate their centennary at the site where their order had devoted 68 years to the care of tubercular and geriatric men and women.

Camp officials went out of their way to accommodate the sisters. Even though the chapel had been refurbished by inmates a few years earlier, Sign Shop inmates touched up the interior. In addition, a crew of inmates was assigned to clean and beautify the Our Lady of Perpetual Help shrine, located in the woods behind the chapel. They noticed that part of the shrine was missing -- a statue of the Virgin Mary that had been mounted atop a boulder had disappeared.

Superintendent James Murphy and members of his staff conducted an extensive search of the North County for the statue. When word reached Father Manfred, Pastor of St. Alphonsus Church in neighboring Tupper Lake, he informed the searchers that while the original was probably lost, a close facsimile could be found on the grounds of a health care facility managed by the Sisters of Mercy. Would the sisters want the statue moved to the old shrine at Gabriels? By all means, they said.

Camp maintenance staff picked up the statue, now in poor condition. The Sign Shop officer and members of his crew immediately set about restoring the statue to its original luster.

About a week before the scheduled anniversary celebration, inmates and employees muscled the restored statue onto a flat-bed truck and literally wrapped their arms around it to prevent damage while it was taken on a bumpy ride to the shrine. The next problem was how to get the more than 500-pound statue onto the huge boulder in the center of the shrine.

Luckily, a crew of outside construction workers happened to be at the facility installing a new auxiliary generator. One of the workers came over to see what was going on. "I can fix that," he said, then left and soon returned driving a huge crane. Very carefully, the statue was strapped to the crane and hoisted onto its mount on top of the rock.

The sisters were delighted. in the spring of 1995, a ceremony was held at the chapel. The Bishop of Ogdensburg and 100 nuns who attended expressed pleasure, not only with the hospitality, but with the new and very different program of service they found now operating at their old home.

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Article is from DOCS TODAY February 1999

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