publications

Appendix: Facilities Investigated

Tryon

Tryon Girls Center is located in Johnstown, New York, not far from Albany. Opened in 1987, it is classified overall as a maximum security institution for girls of up to 21 years of age who were found to have committed crimes. Its capacity is 87 girls and its average daily population is 75 girls. It has a staff of 120.694

The girls held at Tryon are divided into units numbered from 50 to 55. Units 50 and 51 are “secure,” and the others are “non-secure.” The housing units are arranged in a semi-circle around a large open area with a gravel track and tennis courts. On the grounds are also an administration building, a gym, and a cafeteria.

Each housing unit contains a centrally located staff office. To one side of the office are small cinder block rooms for each girl with a metal-reinforced window to the outside and enclosed by a solid metal door with a small plexi-glass window, and to the other are a common area, bathrooms, and the so-called “mudroom.”695

Tryon Reception Center is a part of the Tryon complex. Girls are held in Tryon Reception for two weeks for assessment prior to final placement in an OCFS facility or program. Also located in the same complex is Tryon Residential Center, a medium security facility holding 217 boys between the ages of 14 and 18 classified as juvenile delinquents.696


A boys unit in the Tryon compound. The girls units look similar.
© 2005 Mie Lewis/Human Rights Watch/ACLU

Lansing

Lansing Residential Center is located in Lansing, New York, near Ithaca. The facility was opened in 1968. It is classified as a medium security or limited secure facility. OCFS documents describe limited secure facilities as “the most restrictive service settings for the Juvenile Delinquent population.”697 Lansing has a capacity of 113 and its average daily population is 80 girls of up to 18 years of age who were found to have committed crimes. It has a staff of 89.698


Like Tryon, Lansing is divided into units. Girls in one unit can see girls in other units but are not allowed to be in contact with them. Across the street from Lansing stands Louis Gosset, Jr. Residential Center, a medium security 150-bed boys’ facility holding boys of up to 18 years of age.699

Girls prepare to move from one area of the Lansing facility to another.
© 2005 Mie Lewis/ Human Rights Watch/ACLU




694 American Correctional Association, Adult and Juvenile Correctional Departments, Institutions, Agencies, and Probation and Parole: 2005 Directory, p. 553.

695 Review of Legal Aid Society attorney’s redacted notes of visit to the Tryon facility on December 28, 2005.

696 ACA, 2005 Directory, p. 553.

697 New York State Office of Children and Family Services, “Facility Programs: Brief Descriptions of Office of Children and Family Services Residential Facilities and Their Programs,” (December 2003).

698 ACA, 2005 Directory, p. 552.

699 Ibid., p. 551.