Riverview Correctional Facility

When inmates are transported to a state prison to serve out their court-imposed sentences, the usual mode of transport is a secured car, minivan or bus. But when the first inmates arrived at Riverview when it opened in September of 1988, the initial leg of their journey was aboard a plane from New York City to the International Airport in Watertown. The medium-security Riverview prison was initially designed to handle up to 750 New York City inmates serving terms of one year or less to help ease overcrowding on Rikers Island.

The cost of the facility in Ogdensburg � commonly known as a �cookie cutter� which could be constructed in rapid fashion to handle an exploding state and city prison population fueled by the crack epidemic � was just over $43 million.

With the spike in New York City drug convictions continuing, Riverview received notice inOctober of 1989 that its population would increase by 200 inmates. Those inmateswere to be housed in the facility�s gymnasium. One hundred of those beds were eliminated a short time later, and the remaining inmates were eventually attrited into Riverview�s 14 barracks-style housing units. By November 25, 1992, New York City officials had removed all of their inmates. Riverview, located along the scenic St. Lawrence River, then became a state prison.

Riverview, which had a population of more than 1,100 inmates in September, is considered a leader in theDepartment in diverse and innovative programing.

A full range of academic and vocational programs operates at Riverview on a four-module program day. The goal is to provide inmates with the education and job skills they need to be law-abiding citizens upon their release from prison. The spectrum of academic classes includes Adult Basic Education,Pre-GED, GED and English as a Second Language.

Take the facility�s burgeoning horticulture program, for instance. The horticulture program recently received an in-vessel composter at a cost of $325,000. Food waste from the mess hall is mixed with wood chips for a closely-monitored mechanized 28-day cycle. The byproduct then can be used as mulch or a compost mixture.As a result, the horticulture program plants are regularly donated to the city of Ogdensburg, other local communities and area nursing homes, and spruce up the facility grounds. The in-vessel composter is also cost-effective as it has helped to reduce the facility�s waste disposal fees by about $26,000 a year. The composting benefits the environment as well by reducing landfill debris.

Among the varied offerings at Riverview is a vocational commercial arts program. Inmates enrolled in this course are taught lettering, illustration and design principles used in the preparation of commercial artwork. Among other things, the inmates learn to prepare paste-ups and mechanicals for the various methods of reproduction in graphics arts. Through this course, inmates can obtain the skills necessary for entry-level jobs with printing companies, advertising agencies or related fields.

This acquired expertise will not only benefit the inmate upon his release from prison. Inmates enrolled in Riverview�s commercial arts course have taken a proactive approach to brightening the appearance of the sprawling facility. They have painted vibrant and attractive murals throughout the facility. The paintings offer a bright touch towhat some would consider a relatively drab environment. The inmates have also crafted signs honoring specific holidays and occasions throughout the year, and have been creative in completing various assigned projects at the behest of prison officials. They have also constructed a table-top model of the facility for the Training Office, which provides visitors and staff with an overview of the Riverview compound. And twice a year, the inmates design, print and present suggestions for the theme, table and room decorations for the annual Riverview/Ogdensburg volunteer services recognition dinner.

Riverview also offers a custodial maintenance program. This program emphasizes custodial services including floor care, carpet and fabric care, upholstery care, use of sanitizing chemicals, rest room care and the use and operation of power cleaning materials. This program provides the inmates with marketable job skills which can help support themselves and their families upon their release back into the community. These acquired skills also help to ensure a clean, sanitary and safe environment at Riverview on a daily basis.

Inmates at Riverview also have the opportunity to pursue a career in the electrical trades profession. This course provides instruction in basis electrical work with an emphasis on the installation and servicing of all types of residential and commercial wiring systems. Skills which are taught include code interpretation, installation and servicing of circuits and controls, use of testing equipment and reading of architectural drawings and wiring schematics.

Job titles that an inmate may be eligible for upon completion of the course include tool crib attendant, electrician�s helper, electric motor control assembler, electric tool repairer and inventory clerk.

The floor covering course is also a popular offering at Riverview. The course covers the installation of most floor covering materials including types of carpeting, floor tile, sheet goods, wall tile and quarry slate. The inmates also learn layout and measurement, floor preparation, maintenance and repair and job estimation.

Inmates in the floor covering program recently re-tiled the entire mess hall cooking area, helping to save taxpayer dollars in these austere times.

Riverview also has a general business program that provides inmates with instruction on a variety of office automation equipment. The equipment includes electronic typewriters, computer terminal keyboards (inmates do not have any access to the Internet), calculators, telephone transcribers and printers. Instruction in shorthand, filing and mailing procedures also helps provide the inmates with the basic skills needed to obtain an entry-level position in a general business office.

Among the positions that an inmate who completes the course could apply for are inventory clerk, stenographer, bookkeeper, data entry clerk, dictation machine transcriber, accounting clerk and billing machine operator.

Students enrolled in the facility�s welding program have had a positive impact on the daily operations at Riverview while helping to once again save taxpayer dollars. For instance, inmates enrolled in the course have designed and constructed metal top/frame tables inlaid with linoleum for use in the facility�s classrooms. Inmates enrolled in the course are also making waste containers for Ogdensburg�s beautification project. The visually appealing and sturdy metal containers are being placed at strategic, high-volume locations throughout the city.

Another popular vocational offering at Riverview is the masonry learn blueprint reading and trade mathematics. One of the recent projects the masonry students embarked on entailed the construction of durable, solid concrete picnic tables for the yards. That not only saved taxpayer dollars but enhanced security as well.

Upon completion of the masonry course, the inmates could be eligible to obtain entry-level trade jobs such as a stone or concrete mason, bricklayer, inventory clerk and tool crib attendant. Riverview also operates a print shop, with students enrolled in that program printing almost everything the facility needs, from forms to note pads. The inmates also do some printing for other facilities in the Watertown hub.

Inmates enrolled in Riverview�s small engine repair program, besides obtaining needed job skills to assist them upon their release from prison, also play a vital role in the daily operations of the facility. They help to maintain lawn mowers and snow blowers for the facility and other prisons in the hub.

Inmates who complete Riverview�s welding, electrical trades, printing, floor covering, small engine repair and horticulture programs receive certificates from the state Department of Labor. Those certificates attest that they possess at least the basic skills necessary to pursue careers in those vocations.

While educational and vocational skills are considered keys when it comes to an inmate�s success on the outside, the Riverview mission entails much more than that.

Guidance staff supervise a wide variety of inmate self-help groups aimed at helping them turn their lives around. These various groups meet on a weekly basis in program. Inmates are taught the fundamentals of wall construction, mixing mortar and learning to work with brick, cinder blocks, cement blocks and concrete. Students must also designated areas of the facility. The staggered programming schedule allows an inmate with multiple needs to get the assistance he needs on a regular basis.

One of the more popular programs overseen by guidance staff involves inmates who comprise the Prison Enhancement Project.At three spiritedweekly meetings, there�s honest group discussion on a variety of issues. They include behavior, self-esteem, ongoing daily issues inherent with living in a prison, angermanagement and how to mend fractured relationships and keep them strong.

There�s also a separate Anger Control group which outlines and teaches more in-depth understanding on appropriate ways to handle angermanagement.A�post-parole group� delves into the myriad of parole issues and ways to prepare for going home. It helps to provide an important bridge back to society by ensuring that paroled inmates get the needed treatment and community services they need.

Riverview also offers two other groups that are conducted with each utilizing a videotaped eight-week program series. The Commitment to Change group meets weekly in the hopes of altering past destructive patterns of behavior and abuse. Upon completion of the program, there�s a graduation ceremony where all inmates receive certificates.There�s also the Parenting group, where inmates are taught how to be good fathers and provide for their children and their spouses.

Riverview also operates an intensive six-month Alcohol and Substance Abuse Treatment (ASAT) program. All inmates assigned to the program live together in one barracks in a therapeutic community environment. A variety of approaches are used including education on the dynamics of addiction, relapse signs, individual and group counseling and other self-help programs.

Registered volunteers from the community also play a key role in helping to provide inmates with the coping skills they need to help ensure their success on the outside.

These dedicated volunteers enter the facility at all hours on a daily basis, providing inmates with a wealth of services and knowledge, as well as a different perspective. The varied programs provided by volunteers include religious and spiritual offerings, training in alternatives to violence, overseeing AAand NA meetings, internships with St. Lawrence University and a Prison Fellowship program. The goal is to provide the inmates with a well-rounded education and coping strategies in the hopes they won�t return to prison but will instead adequately provide for themselves and their families.

The facility�s supervisor of volunteer tutors operates training for all the volunteers. But once that�s done, the volunteers come up with their own curriculums, lesson plans and teaching styles. The supervisor of volunteer services also trains and oversees each Inmate Program Associate, who helps the volunteer tutors. Volunteers also teach a Success Outside After Prison program.

The rapport and strong support between the community and the facility is evidenced by the close working relationship between the facility and its Community Advisory Board, which was pivotal in the siting of both Riverview and Ogdensburg. Meetings continue to be held quarterly with the board, which consists of the city mayor, area college trustees and various businessmen. Their support has been priceless.

Just as the community has reached out to Riverview, the employees at the facility � many of whom now call that region of the state home � have reached out to the community. They are key players in many community endeavors on a regular basis. They serve as sports coaches and volunteer their time at houses of worship. They also work at food banks for the needy, sit on municipal and community board, serve as volunteer firefighters and hold a variety of fund-raisers on a regular basis to help their neighbors in need.

Each year, Riverview staff and inmates, along with their counterpart at other facilities throughout the state, participate in Make a Difference Day activities to benefit the needy. In 2002, employees at Riverview held bake sales, raffles and hot dog sales days to raise money to benefit several local organizations. They included Hospice of St. Lawrence Valley, the Ogdensburg Neighborhood Center, which operates a local food pantry, and the St. Lawrence Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

And even though inmates spend most of their hours trying to get their lives back on track so as not to return to prison, they have been able to give something back to the North Country community.

Riverview inmates run a successful Youth Assistance Program where theymeet at the prison with community youths determined to be at-risk in the hopes they can help get them on a proper path and help them avoid incarceration. In frank discussions without browbeating their often overwhelmed visitors, the inmates tell the youths how they wound up in prison. They speak freely on the harsh realities of prison life and the accompanying loss of freedom.

The goal of the problem is to show the troubled youths � some of whom are mandated by the courts or Social Services to participate in the program � how to develop positive attitudes. The inmates try to help them realize that they can make positive changes in their lifestyles and avoid winding up in prison.

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