Camp Pharsalia

New York state opened its first minimum-security facility in 1956. Located in the town of Pharsalia in Chenango County, it was called a "camp" and was intended for younger inmates who would be employed at preserving and improving state forest lands. Camp Pharsalia proved to be everything hoped for by Corrections and Conservation officials. Three more correctional conservation youth camps opened in the next four years, all based on the Pharsalia model.

The DOCS camp program is still strong today, with surprisingly few modifications made over its 44-year career. The original age restrictions ("campmen" could be no more than 21) were extended, to 25, to 35, and then finally removed altogether. The camps are larger today. Pharsalia now houses 258 men, more than five times the original population. Though the growth was driven by the system-wide need for additional prison beds, it also presented the opportunity to enlarge the camp mission. Service to neighboring communities now supplements the traditional forestry work.

Camp Pharsalia is situated 50 miles north of the city of Binghamton in Broome County, about midway between the cities of Albany and Rochester. As far as the eye can see in every direction, the view is of roller coaster hills coated with dense evergreens.

This is Leatherstocking Country, so called after the popular James Fenimore Cooper adventure novels of trail blazing pioneers skirmishing with Indians in the vicinity of Cooperstown. In real life, the region was settled by Dutch and German immigrants with high hopes for farming. The land proved unproductive, though. It was too high, too rocky, too wet. Thousands of acres, cleared in vain of pines and boulders, were abandoned over the years.

The land eventually was acquired by the state and later reforested by the "Soil Soldiers" of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). A generation later, the abandoned CCC camp in Pharsalia would be put to use by New York state as a correctional camp in the service of the war on juvenile delinquency.

Quiet discipline

Everything about Camp Pharsalia has the look and feel of a lumber camp. A life-sized moose silhouette at the entrance greets visitors. All structures on the grounds, whether wood or metal, are painted dark brown. There is a log cabin and an A-frame chapel. There are two open-sided pavilions, one outside the visiting room and one by the recreation field. There is a saw mill and also a planing mill. Logs, split wood, and cut boards lie about in great stacks. Some will be used in state parks for rail fences, picnic tables and small buildings. Some will be used to feed the large wood furnaces that are the camp's primary heating source.

Though inmates are closely overseen at all times by Correction Officers, there is nothing prison-like in Pharsalia's appearance. Except for the chicken-wire pheasant farm at the edge of the woods, there is only one fence on the grounds. It surrounds the recreation field, and seems more for the purpose of containing rolling softballs than inmates: it is only chest-high and bare of barbed wire or razor ribbon.

Appearances aside, however, the recreation fence does in fact serve a security purpose.

Quietly, the fence places limits on movement. It succinctly reminds the inmates that even in this relatively relaxed setting, they are not free to meander or stroll out of sight of the Officers. Even here, as in the maximum-security prisons, being out of place is an infraction of the rules, and infractions may result in a return to a medium- or even maximum-security facility.

Common Goals: conservation and delinquency prevention

The quality of discipline without sticks and shouts has been present here since the CCC camp days. The CCC was a New Deal public works project with three aims. The first was to create jobs during the Great Depression of the 1930's. Secondly, its multi-pronged mission focused on promoting environmental conservation. And finally, it was designed to "build good citizens through vigorous, disciplined outdoor labor."

Participants were young men, some of whom were considered at-risk for delinquency. They enlisted in the corps for specific periods, often re-upping when their periods of service expired. CCC camp commanders were officers in the US Army. Corps members were subjected to a mild form of military discipline, addressing superiors as "sir" and observing dress and "lights out" requirements.

The CCC planted millions of trees across the United States. By the mid- 1950's, the trees were ready for thinning, pruning and harvesting. But the Depression had passed and there was no CCC to carry on the work. Thus, Sharon J. Mauhs, New York's Conservation Commissioner, approached Corrections Commissioner Thomas J. McHugh, suggesting a partnership.

At the same time, the problem of juvenile delinquency was going high-profile. Popular magazines of the day carried warnings and advice to parents. James Dean and Sal Mineo played troubled teens in the classic movie "Rebel Without a Cause." The hit Broadway musical "West Side Story" resurrected Romeo and Juliet as members of warring teenage gangs.

To address both problems, New York in 1955 created a Division for Youth in the Department of Corrections. It authorized "youth rehabilitation facilities" on state forest lands controlled by the Department of Environmental Conservation. (The Division for Youth separated from Corrections in 1960. The youth forestry facilities then operated under a DOCS director of camps. In the 1980's, camps became part of their regional hubs when that system was established Department-wide.)

The first camp

The Corrections and Conservation departments agreed that the old CCC site in Pharsalia, in the center of some 35,000 to 40,000 acres of forest, was an ideal place for the first youth camp.

Construction was begun on a dormitory, messhall and administration building in the summer of 1956. Officers and supervisors reported in early September and continued to ready the site.

The first 11 inmates transferred from Elmira, arriving on October 2, 1956. Additional inmates arrived throughout the month. They were put to work grading the grounds, suffacing roadways and clearing additional land. Conservation officers began the systematic instruction of staff and campmen in the safe operation of bow saws, crosscut saws, single- and double- blade axes and other types of equipment. By November of that year, the forestry program was fully underway. Campmen were thinning trees, clearing access trails and cutting wood for the stoves.

The Correction forestry camps bore striking similarities to the CCC camps. Both were for young men (16-25 for the CCC, 16-21 for Corrections). Additionally, both programs shared the twin objectives of character development and conservation (a Corrections official suggested "better lives and better lumber" as a slogan for the camps).

Each program also included elements of military discipline. For instance, every day at Pharsalia began with a white glove inspection. Full military-type inspection occurred on Saturdays when campmen were required to mark and display on their beds every piece of property and clothing.

In addition, both programs had to overcome neighbors' nerves. Small, rural communities were wary about groups of urban unemployed encamped in the woods outside their towns. In the case of Corrections, the neighbors' skepticism was all the more understandable, since the campmens� anti-social tendencies were a matter of court record.

Joseph Riley, Camp Pharsalia's first supervisor, was well-versed, with renowned and impressive communications skills. He invited anyone who called him to visit the camp and to observe and talk with crews at work in the state forests and parks. He told them that camp inmates were not CCC workers, and would not be making Saturday night forays into town. He explained the meticulous selection process to reduce risk to the community.

That entailed initial screening and recommendation by prison personnel, personal interviews by camp personnel and final selection by the Commissioner of Correction. And as an additional safeguard, the criminal and institutional history of each potential camp candidate was reviewed and re-reviewed at every step along the way.

The campmen did not betray Riley's assurances. In the first year, only one inmate walked away (he was recaptured within hours without harm to anyone). Local citizens were quick to respond. The first Christmas Eve, two large boxes of candy and popcorn were delivered to the camp, with a card reading "to the Campmen: From Your Neighbors."

The following year, a local jewelry store owner organized a committee to make sure every campman received a Christmas Gift. To the present day, Camp Pharsalia's neighbors continue to display their generosity by staging an annual holiday celebration with dinner, entertainment and gifts for the inmates.

Based on the community's acceptance and the success of the Pharsalia program, the Legislature approved funding of a second, similar camp at Monterey, which opened in 1958. In 1960, camps also were established at Georgetown and Summit.

Community support continues to improve

Aside from the Christmas observance, the community historically has supported the camp in all kinds of ways, in return for the positive efforts and work for the greater community being performed by the campmen.

Organizations such as the Kiwanis, Jaycees, Rotary and Elks have visited regularly to encourage and instruct the "campmen." Women from the Norwich Garden Club helped "the boys" plant flowers and vegetable gardens. The YMCA offered the use of its swimming pool. Church groups came to give choral music concerts. Local softball teams played against the camp team.

Norwich and Pharsalia area citizens have never flagged in their enthusiasm to help out. A Community Advisory Committee has been active since 1956. The committee meets monthly with the camp Executive Team and Inmate Liaison Committee, suggesting projects for inmate crews or contacting community resources to resolve problems.

Individuals also help out. Without the continuing contributions of selfless, concerned community volunteers, many evening and weekend programs available to inmates could not be conducted. Volunteers serve as sponsors and speakers for AA and NA groups and facilitators for the Alternatives To Violence (ATV) program. They also supplement the chaplaincy and teaching staffs to enrich religious and educational programming. The legions of volunteers even assist with clerical and maintenance tasks.

Camp Pharsalia�s outdoor recreation area is an outstanding example of cooperation and teamwork.

Community volunteers, camp and other DOCS staff, inmates and other government agencies (including the state DEC as well as the city of Norwich's engineering and highway departments) worked on their own time and donated equipment, lumber, fill material and other supplies. Work started in 1994 to clear, drain, and level a five-acre, stump-filled swamp that sloped 22 feet from front to back. In two years, at a fraction of the estimated cost, the swamp was turned into a softball field and an eighth-mile running track. It also features a basketball court, bocce court, handball courts and horseshoe pits. A pavilion with water and electricity provides cover for benches and picnic tables, board games, ping pong and TV viewing. And last fall, an enclosed, secured weight station was added to the pavilion.

The Pharsalia program

Forestry work remains the backbone of the camp program. Several crews of inmates--they are no longer called "campmen" -are enrolled in the DEC's Timber Stand Improvement Program to thin forests. They remove non-productive trees (those with knots or low limbs, for example) to allow more productive trees to grow faster. They cut timber for picnic tables, outhouses, � bird house" signboards and other uses in state parks and recreation areas. Inmates also maintain dikes and levees, plus snowmobile, ski and horse trails. They clean culverts and clear brush from roadsides, and harvest firewood.

With the increase from 50 inmates in 1956 to 258 today, it is no longer feasible to assign the entire population to forestry duties. No camp inmates have been idled, however.

Community service projects, ranging from painting town halls and renovating libraries to disaster relief, assure that all men are productively engaged. An average of 150 to 175 inmates are assigned to either forestry or community projects. The remainder of the population is engaged in seeing to the needs of the institution cooking, laundering, cleaning, grounds keeping and assisting in the powerhouse.

Seventeen inmates are enrolled full-time in the camp's building maintenance program. There, a vocational instructor teaches the rudiments of plumbing, electrical work, carpentry, masonry and maintenance through a combination of classroom study and supervised live work projects. Special projects are sometimes assigned during summer months, when the program closes in accordance with the standard school calendar. During one summer in the 1970's, with partial funding from the camp Quality of Work Life committee, inmates built a log cabin on the grounds. The cabin - complete with a kitchen, fitness equipment and an emergency bedroom - is used by camp personnel as a locker room and lunch area, for employee union and other meetings, and for social purposes.

All other programming is unpaid and on the inmate's own time. Three part-time teachers provide adult basic education leading to high school equivalency diplomas. Two counselors are on staff for case management activities such as temporary release and earned eligibility review. Alcohol and substance abuse self-help groups, as well as ATV programs, are conducted with the assistance of community volunteers, who may also teach special interest classes. The camp has a library as well as a law resource center, supplemented by monthly visits from the Tri-City Bookmobile. Recreation takes place on the new recreation field and a full-size gymnasium constructed in 1988.

Visits from family and friends are in the program building on weekends and holidays. In seasonable weather, a pavilion is also used. The pavilion is another example of community support. Originally the property of the Elks Club, the pavilion was acquired by the city of Norwich, which then donated it to the camp. The pavilion was dismantled and reassembled on a concrete base outside the program building at the very front of the camp.

Fish and fowl

Last spring, Pharsalia inmates dug a large hole out of a swampy area a couple of hundred yards from the camp, lined the bottom and made a pond. Frog Pond, as it is called, was then stocked with 3,000 walleyed pike fry. When the fry, barely visible at first, grew to about two inches long, they were released into a local lake. It is estimated that approximately 50 percent survived. That is considered phenomenal, as the usual measure of success for such efforts typically is in the neighborhood of 20 percent.

On a similar note, Pharsalia is one of several DOCS camps to operate a pheasant farm. The program was proposed by the Chenango County Sportsmen's Federation about 15 years ago. Every spring, 5,000 day-old chicks are received from the DEC pheasant hatchery in Ithaca. At about 15 weeks, the birds are released on public and other huntable lands. Two inmates, with minimal staff involvement, handle the chicks and maintain the premises. All other expenses for feed, supplies, electricity and transport are borne by the Sportsmen's Federation.

Just as there are intangible benefits for inmates tending cows on prison farms and retired racehorses at WalIkill, the pheasant- raising activity is thought to instill responsibility and enhanced respect for life in participating inmates.

The pheasant farm is a potpourri of wooden huts scattered over an area of about an acre and a half enclosed by a chicken wire fence and a wire canopy propped up on poles. The huts were erected by various inmates over the years, using their ingenuity and whatever materials were at hand. The sheds slant and lean this way and that, and plank walkways crisscross the ground without pattern. No planner laid out this impromptu little community. Pharsalia's pheasant shanty town grew like a quaint old city all on its own, with all the surprises and charms of a city skyline. The camp will remain that way as it enters the new millennium.

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