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Lloyd Sealy Library
John Jay College of Criminal Justice

New York Prisons and Jails: Historical Research: Federal Jails/Prisons

A guide to historical to current resources on prisons and jails in New York City and New York State. By Ellen Belcher

Federal Correctional Facilities in NYC

Federal Bureau of Prisons Facilities in New York City  (selected resources)

B.O.P. reports are chronologically available here.

Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn - holds inmates awaiting arraignment or trial at the federal court in the Eastern District of New York.

United States. Department of Justice. Evaluation and Inspections Division (2015) Management of the Special Programs Unit at the Federal Bureau of Prisons Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York. Special Collections - HV9469 .U54 2016c

Jeanne Theoharis (2009) "Guantánamo at Home Terror suspects are held in US prisons on dubious evidence under inhumane conditions." Nation.

Dr. Homer Venters (April 30, 2020) Facility Evaluation: Metropolitan Detention Center COVID-19 Response. was also discussed on Gothamist.

Metropolitan Correction Center, lower Manhattan - Most prisoners held at MCC New York have pending cases in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. MCC New York also holds prisoners serving brief sentences.

Aviva Stahl (2018) "Prisoners Endure A Nightmare 'Gulag' In Lower Manhattan, Hidden In Plain Sight." Gothamist  -

Dwyer, Jim (April 5, 2011). "A Passageway for Prisoners, 40 Feet Below". The New York Times.

RRM (Residential Reentry Management Field Office)

From the BOP website: The BOP contracts with residential reentry centers (RRCs), also known as halfway houses, to provide assistance to inmates who are nearing release. ... Pre-release inmates at an RRC remain in Federal custody while serving a sentence imposed by a U.S. District Court or DC Superior Court. Offenders under the supervision of U.S. Probation or the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency (CSOSA) are housed as a condition of their supervision.

see also:

Roots, Roger. "Metropolitan Correctional Centers." Encyclopedia of Prisons and Correctional Facilities, edited by Mary Bosworth, vol. 1, SAGE Reference, 2005, pp. 597-599. Gale Virtual Reference Library, [CUNY login required]

Bosworth, M. (2002). The U.S. federal prison system. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Reference - HV9471 .B677 2002

The National Archives and Records Administration holds inmate files on prisoners incarcerated in Federal Correctional Facilities, NARA also has a NYC location where they offer assistance with researching federal records . You can lookup a prisoner currently/recently incarcerated in the Federal Bureau of Prisons here.

Ancestry.com has digitized some FBoP prisoner records from western states.

ICE Detention Facilities

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE Detention Facilities Map

Detention Watch Network (DWN) is a national coalition building power through collective advocacy, grassroots organizing, and strategic communications to abolish immigration detention in the United States. They also publish reports on ICE detentions.

Excel spreadsheet of names and contact information for ICE detention facilities.

Twitter thread with pictures, and contact information of many ICE Facilities