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Owasco River behind Auburn Prison | AUBURN, New York <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nImage courtesy of Mandela Gonzales-Palmer<\/sub><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is the strangest place I\u2019ve ever lived\u2026 There\u2019s an evil umbrella over us that we never talk about\u2026 The prison is not acknowledged as an entity.\u201d \u2013Judy, David, and Leah, Auburn residents, exhibition feedback (2024)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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I-90W toward Albion and Attica | BATAVIA, New York <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nImage courtesy of Ivette Sierra (2023)<\/sub><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNormally, if you don’t have friends, if you don’t have any \u2018ins,\u2019 you’re not going to know where you’re going when you are transferred. You can’t stand up on the bus unless you want a ticket. They don’t have windows except for these little slits right here. Sometimes you can get away with a quick stretch of your shackles. You might take a peek. And I would personally find a sign like that. These little tiny pieces that I’m trying to piece together in my mind like, \u2018Where am I? Am I going to be able to call home to someone?\u2019 Like, \u2018Hey, guess what? I’m an hour away.\u2019 Or \u2018Shit. Don’t even bother coming.\u2019” \u2013 UR student Jesse Johnston, exhibition feedback, Rochester (2023)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Los Compadres Restaurant | BATAVIA, New York <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nImage courtesy of Ivette Sierra (2023)<\/sub><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
She confirmed that a lot of police officers come and eat at the restaurant and I asked if officers from the ICE detention center come as well and she confirmed that they do. I asked her if she thought if she found that weird, she asked why it would be, and I explained how the officers are interacting with our food but the moment they leave this restaurant they are now going to interact with people like us who are detained due to their immigration status.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nOnce I framed it this way she did say that it initially made her uncomfortable but she has been used to it because the owners have a restaurant in Buffalo which is extremely close to the border to Canada and she mentioned that ICE would come in their work vans and come to eat all the time so she is very used to having interactions with ICE in this setting. <\/em>\u2013 UR student Ivette Sierra fieldnotes, Batavia (2021) <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Swaby\u2019s Tavern | AUBURN, New York <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nImage courtesy of Shane Bombace (2023)<\/sub><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
When Theo asked how similar they thought their perspectives on the prison are to most folks living in Auburn, they explained that for those born and raised here, \u201cit\u2019s just there\u2026 like any other business\u201d and \u201cyou don\u2019t think too much about it other than that.\u201d Rich and Anne explained that the prison \u201cis part of their culture\u2026 it\u2019s part of the background,\u201d as, for many people in Auburn, \u201ctheir whole families have worked in Auburn.\u201d Anne\u2019s cousin and uncle worked in the prison and her father was chief of police, and \u201che always had a close relationship with whoever happened to be the warden at the time.\u201d Anne admitted, \u201cI don\u2019t remember even when I was first aware of it. <\/em>\u2013 UR student Mandela Gonzales-Palmer fieldnotes, Auburn (2023)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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39 Problems | ALBION, New York<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\nImage courtesy of Kristin Doughty (2024)<\/sub><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
The second we entered the bar, it felt like all eyes were on us. The bar was all white, except for one women, whom we would later meet. We also learned later on, that everyone in the bar was talking about us when we entered\u2026 They were really proud of the police force of the town. They \u201chad the prison, sheriffs, local police\u201d and one other police station. This made them feel like the town was very safe. It was interesting because Ken seemed to be happy with the prison because it was able to provide jobs for the locals. <\/em>\u2013 UR students Ruki Prathivadhi-Bha, Alexandra Mesropov, Jingxuan Wang, Keneon Williams fieldnotes, Albion (2018)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cAttachment 5: Examples of Weapons Confiscated by Department of Public Safety (DPS)\u201d | ROCHESTER, New York <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nSecurity Commission Report, University of Rochester (2016)<\/sub><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn 8th grade health, prison guards came into the school, and told us not to break the law, because of how terrible the prisons are, how dangerous it is. They brought in a big board of improvised weapons to show us how awful it is on the inside. Of course that\u2019s all designed to make us scared.\u201d\u2013 Joe Orman, Auburn resident, to Kristin Doughty (2017)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Erie Canalway Historical Marker | FAYETTEVILLE, New York<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\nCourtesy of Joshua Dubler (2023)<\/sub><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe way that I see it is, if you look at the school as an institution, then the prison is coming into the school. Because if you look at certain teachers that are old-school, that have their kids walk in a line and your hands have to be behind your back and, you know, stand against the wall to go to the bathroom and stuff like that, what I see is what I see when I go see my husband [in prison]. And so that is an institutionalized kind of behavior. So, do we want to institutionalize our students? No. Because that\u2019s what we\u2019re doing is we\u2019re getting them to practice and getting them used to being in an institution so that when they go somewhere else, they already know the drill, right? The new teachers that are coming on board and the new administrators and the new way of thinking is, you know, we are nurturing, we are restorative instead of being punitive.\u201d \u2013 Wanda Labrador to UR students Amina N\u2019Gambwa and Natalie Ziegler, Rochester (2019)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Wasco Historical Marker on Prison Facade | AUBURN, New York <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nImage courtesy of Janaelle Huxlin (2023)<\/sub><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
They told us there was a land claim in 1788-1789 that allowed NYS to acquire this area from the Onondaga tribe. The prison sits on Native land. Currently, the Cayuga Nation has its base in Union Springs. Lynn mentions that there is a small casino there that she and other people use on occasion. The town has a lot of commemorative pieces dedicated to Chief Logan. He was originally born to the Cayuga tribe but moved and did most of his more notable work in the Midwest. He died near Lake Erie and is buried in the Fort Hill Cemetery in Auburn, the inscription reads \u201cwho is going to mourn for Logan?\u201d <\/em>\u2013 UR students Amina N\u2019Gambwa and Jasmin Edjang fieldnotes, Auburn (2018)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cAttica…By Choice\u201d | ATTICA, New York <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nImage courtesy of Janaelle Huxlin via Cameron McCabe (2023)<\/sub><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
The conductor told me the railroad had started in 1917 and that in 1958 there had been a huge washout of the tracks which stopped most of the train trips up to Attica. In fact, after the major washout (one of several), the prison became the only client left in Attica and the only reason trains ever went to the end of the line. Their trains had been used to transport coal for the prison. I asked if they ever had trains go to Attica now. He said no, the last stop today is a place called Curriers Station, though you can still see the old tracks in Attica near the furniture station. He told me that people often ask if they\u2019ll ever start taking the trains all the way to Attica again, but that it was incredibly unlikely. <\/em>\u2013 UR students Emerson Finkle, Skylar Cerbone, Winston Scott, Alexandra Fischgrund fieldnotes, Attica-Arcade train line (2018)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Orchard Street | AUBURN, New York <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nImage courtesy of Mattie Neretin (2023)<\/sub><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
As I was walking down Genesee St with Morgan, we walked past some guy smoking a cigar outside of some store. He looked at me and gave me a head nod and I told him What\u2019s up. After walking a little past him, something inclined me to go back and talk to him. I told Morgan I will catch up with her and decided to walk back.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nWhen I started walking back he looked up at me and I said, \u201cYo do you know where O-Block is?\u201d He chuckled and said, \u201cYou seen me and O-Block?\u201d \u201cWell, I\u2019m not from here. I\u2019m from Brooklyn and just wanted to know where it\u2019s at.\u201d After giving me some brief directions he states, \u201cI\u2019m actually about to go back to Orchard St. myself.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nI asked, \u201cActually I want to know why it\u2019s called O-block and why people talk so bad about it?\u201d \u201cWell my mother has lived on Orchard for over 57 years and I still live in the same house and I’m 55 years old. We were one of the first African American families that lived on Orchard, it was an all Italian neighborhood.\u201d <\/em>\u2013 UR student Jerrell Grey with Morgan Barter, fieldnotes, Auburn (2018)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Mount Morris, NY – We Remember – We Honor <\/em>| MOUNT MORRIS, New York <\/strong>Mural by Shawn Dunwoody<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\nImage courtesy of Jaenelle Huxlin (2023)<\/sub><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a small negative impact [to the Livingston Correctional Facility closing] because most of the workers didn\u2019t live immediately local but would still spend money driving through the town. Groveland is the bigger facility and since there\u2019s still a state presence there, the impact was minimalized. Also, most of the inmate population is from NYC, and the town runs free buses on weekends so families can visit. When they come up and see it costs a lot less to live here and it doesn\u2019t take 7+ hours to see their family, they decide to stay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mt. Morris has the social services office for the county, so it\u2019s within a walking distance to get services when the families come in. When the inmates are released, they can stay in the area. We\u2019re having to deal with cultures that we\u2019re not used to dealing with, which isn\u2019t necessarily a bad thing, it\u2019s just a thing.\u201d \u2013Mt. Morris pastor and retired correctional officer to UR students Hannah O\u2019Connor and Samiksha Vitalraj (2019)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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BLM Signs in Church Hallway | AUBURN, New York<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\nImage courtesy of Mandela Gonzales-Palmer (2023)<\/sub><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd the prison is the largest employer in this community, which means there are a whole lot of people who are related to or are themselves employed by the prison, including, of course, the chaplains, but all the correctional officers, the medical, the educators, everybody. Many of those are good people, and they want to do well by the people who are incarcerated there. But you\u2019re still employed by a system, and so you\u2019re inclined to favor that system\u2026 There are organizations of social justice in this community who are well aware of this and who are working for this. Of course, the 10% of this community who are people of color are well aware of this because they experience it\u2026 But the majority of this community are not with us. When we posted that Black Lives Matter sign, it was vandalized. The word black was cut out from it. It was stolen.\u201d \u2013 Reverend Patrick to UR student Mandela Gonzales-Palmer, Auburn (2023)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Sign | RAY BROOK, New York<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\nImage courtesy of Natalie Mankoff (2023)<\/sub><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Martha knew that Joe worked in the prison, and she always assumed that he was a correctional officer, but when she spoke with him, she learned that he actually called himself a \u201cRec Specialist.\u201d \u201cHe told me, \u2018Martha you could walk into any bar and be surrounded by corrections officers (COs). But not a single one will tell you that he\u2019s a CO,\u2019\u201d Martha explained. \u201cA lot of corrections officers also do contracting work on the side, so they will tell you that they\u2019re a carpenter or an electrician. But they won\u2019t tell you that they\u2019re COs.\u201d<\/em> \u2013 UR student Anna Givens fieldnotes, Ray Brook (2022)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Barn | MEDINA, New York<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\nImage courtesy of Kristin Doughty (2024)<\/sub><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy uncle works in the moderate security area at Attica. The hours and conditions of work for COs is an abomination, they are really genuinely not favorable. The prison is the only employment option for these men and women. A parallel development along with the inflation of the prison industrial system is the collapse of community farming. Thousands of family farms have been closed down by agribusinesses, high throughput technologies. Farms formed the bases of the economies, closing down surplus of labor being taken up by the prison.\u201d \u2013 Chris, Attica resident, to Kristin Doughty (2019)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Barge on Erie Canal | ALBION, New York<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\nImage courtesy of Danielle Genevro (2024)<\/sub><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
And then, by some amazing stroke of luck, John the county legislator walked in. John is from Batavia and currently resides there serving as a Republican politician. He had been a CO for 25 years, mostly at Albion. He was opposed to the new jail project, because of the economic strain it was putting on the town. The folks in Albany had basically ordered that the new facility be built, because updated regulations deemed the current facility unfit (not enough beds, not enough space); it\u2019s been in operation since 1902. We asked about the jobs that the project would create and he said, \u201cI\u2019m not really an advocate for that kind of job creation.\u201d <\/em>\u2013 UR students Jessica Charest, Sebastian Lauer, Guy Emrich fieldnotes, Batavia (2023)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Main Street | WATERTOWN, New York <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nImage courtesy of Kristin Doughty (2019)<\/sub><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
It definitely did not feel like they all had relations with friends or family in the prison system. More likely than not every customer had some relation with Fort Drum instead. This brings me to think that Fort Drum replaced any economic need that the Watertown prison ever had, and I would expect the other correctional facility to potentially close as well<\/em>.\u2013 UR student Shane Bombace fieldnotes, Watertown (2023)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The Liberty Store | AUBURN, New York<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\nImage courtesy of Hannah Witkin (2023)<\/sub><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor over a century, the Liberty Store has provided a large variety of menswear items to Cayuga County. When the Goldman family first opened the doors of its small business in 1915, it advertised shoes, pants, and socks. Over the years, the Goldman family has grown the Liberty Store into a one-stop shop for individuals and businesses alike, including the Auburn Correctional Facility. This small business has evolved over the past century to meet the needs of its clients and our community\u2014now serving jails, police, and the fire department in 30 states. The Liberty Store has become an integral part of Auburn\u2019s landscape and still provides menswear for Central New Yorkers of all ages.\u201d \u2013 Hon. John Katko of New York in the House of Representatives, the Congressional Record Extension of Remarks (June 29, 2017)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Human Caging in Western New York <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nMap courtesy of Abhiyudh Rajput (2023)<\/sub><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur research proposes to explore these dynamics through comparative ethnographies of towns around Rochester, New York. Rochester is ringed by 35 federal, state, and county prisons, jails, and immigrant-detention centers within a two-hour drive.\u201d \u2013 Kristin Doughty and Joshua Dubler, proposal to the National Science Foundation (2020)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cUpstate Counties Send the Most People to Prison Per Capita\u201d | New York<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\nPrison Policy Initiative (2022)<\/sub><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNew York City, by far the largest city in the state, has an imprisonment rate of 185 per 100,000. This is undoubtedly high, but it is much lower than many other cities across the state. The city of Rochester \u2014 the fourth most populous city in the state \u2014 with an incarceration rate of 1,051 per 100,000 city residents, is more than 5 times the rate in New York City. Syracuse \u2014 the fifth most populous city \u2014 has 864 people in state prison per 100,000 city residents, while the city of Albany has an incarceration rate of 917 per 100,000. Other, even smaller cities like Poughkeepsie and Schenectady experience disproportionate incarceration as well.\u201d \u2013 Emily Widra and Nick Encalada-Malinowski, \u201cWhere People in Prison Come From: The Geography of Mass Incarceration in New York,\u201d Prison Policy Initiative <\/em>(2022)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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I-90 Exit at NY-98S | BATAVIA, New York<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nImage courtesy of Ivette Sierra (2023)<\/sub><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
I sat down at a Willy Wonka slot machine next to an older lady. I was vocally confused about how to use the slot machine and confessed that it was my first time. She showed me how to use it and I asked her how often she comes to play at the casino and if she was from Batavia. She said she had lived here her whole life and so had her parents<\/em>… When I brought up the ICE facility, she immediately told me that her son was a CO, but in Attica, not Batavia. I asked her how the job was for him and why she thought he ended up with it. She said that it\u2019s a difficult job but the benefits are so good and she thinks he took the job for his family\u2019s sake. She said that he lives in Attica now, instead of commuting from Batavia. She said that he had a better position, being a guard at the gate rather than working directly inside the prison most of the time.<\/em> She didn\u2019t have much to say about his experience as a guard, but more about her worries as a mother.<\/em> \u2013 UR student Nai\u2019a Keith-Handschuh fieldnotes, Batavia (2023)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Attica Rodeo | ATTICA, New York <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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