Mid-Orange Correctional Facility

The site of Mid-Orange Correctional Facility was between 1932 and 1977 the home of the New York State Training School for Boys.{{Cite web |date=2018-12-18 |title=Warwick State Training School for Boys |url=https://abandonedonline.net/location/warwick-state-training-school-for-boys/ |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=Abandoned |language=en-US}} The facility was constructed on May 19, 1932 for the care of delinquent boys.{{Cite journal |date=1932-09-01 |title=Notes |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01586394 |journal=Psychiatric Quarterly |language=en |volume=6 |issue=3 |pages=570–574 |doi=10.1007/BF01586394 |issn=1573-6709}} The school had a capacity of 500, housing those primarily between the ages of 13 and 15. The school attracted the attention of Eleanor Roosevelt, and she wrote four My Day columns about the experiences of the boys in the school. In 1971, the school, as well as others in the state, were transferred from Department of Social Services to the Division for Youth, which had a focus on deinstitutionalisation.{{Cite web |title=Mid-Orange CF: NYCHS Excerpts of DOCS{{!}}Today Facility Profile |url=https://www.correctionhistory.org/html/chronicl/docs2day/mid-orangecf.html |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=www.correctionhistory.org}} The school was closed in 1976.{{Cite web |title=The New York State Training School for Boys |url=https://www.albertwisnerlibrary.org/Factsandhistory/History/MOCF/NYS%20Training%20School.html |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=www.albertwisnerlibrary.org}}

The New York State Department of Correctional Services took over the facility in late 1976. The facility was renovated to be a prison, with new buildings and a perimeter fence built. The Mid-Orange Correctional Facility received its first inmates on June 29, 1977.{{Cite web |title=History of the Mid-Orange Correctional Facility|url=https://www.albertwisnerlibrary.org/Factsandhistory/History/MOCF/Mid%20Orange%20Correctional%20Facility.html |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=www.albertwisnerlibrary.org}} The intended prison population was 400,{{Cite news |last=Gormley |first=Pat |date=January 13, 1977 |title=Warwick citizen unit on prison lauded |work=The Times Herald Record |page=62}} but capacity was increased to 1000 due to demand placed on prisoners during the war on drugs Prison capacity eventually settled on 750.

The prison was also the site of a strike by state prison employees in 1979. National Guardsmen were sent to the prison as strikebreakers, and were quartered in employee housing. This resulted in the only known caselaw for the Third Amendment, the US 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals case Engblom v. Carey.{{Cite web |last=SULLIVAN |first=BY JOHN |title=Mid-Orange Correctional Facility made history during 1979 lockout |url=https://www.recordonline.com/story/news/2011/07/02/mid-orange-correctional-facility-made/49980833007/ |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=Times Herald-Record |language=en-US}}{{cite court |litigants=Engblom v. Carey |vol=677 |reporter=F.2d |opinion=957|court=2nd Circuit |date=1982 |url=https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/677/957/231684/}}

On June 30th 2011, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that Mid-Orange Correctional Facility was listed among seven prisons to be closed as part of a prison closing program to reduce government expenditure. The other prisons closed were Arthur Kill Buffalo, Fulton, Mt. McGregor, Oneida, and Summit.{{cite press release|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110829060643/https://www.governor.ny.gov/press/06302011ClosureOfSevenStatePrisonFacilities| archive-date=2011-08-29|url=http://www.governor.ny.gov/press/06302011ClosureOfSevenStatePrisonFacilities|title=Governor Cuomo Announces Closure of Seven State Prison Facilities|date=June 30, 2011|accessdate=April 8, 2012}} Mid-Orange Correctional Facility closed completely on October 1st. Of the 227 security staff, 212 were transferred to other correctional facilities, whilst 55 of the 100 civilian staff were transferred.{{Cite web |last=Sunkin |first=Alyssa |title=Mid-Orange Correctional Facility staff get used to new jobs |url=https://www.recordonline.com/story/business/2011/10/28/mid-orange-correctional-facility-staff/49853692007/ |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=Times Herald-Record |language=en-US}}

On June 28 2013, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli signed off on transfering the facility to Warwick.{{Cite web |last=Brown |first=Nathan |title=State transferring former Mid-Orange Correctional Facility to Town of Warwick |url=https://www.recordonline.com/story/news/2013/07/26/state-transferring-former-mid-orange/44408558007/ |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=Times Herald-Record |language=en-US}} The transfer was completed on March 6, 2014. The former grounds of the prison were split into two lots: 600 acres designated to become woodlands and public parks, and roughly 150 acres designated for commercial development. In 2013, a private non-profit organisation, the Warwick Valley Local Development Corporation (WVLDC), formed by Warwick Town Supervisor Mike Sweeton, was established to promote commercial development.{{Cite news |last=Bellamy |first=Lana |title=How Warwick turned a shuttered prison into a thriving business park |url=https://www.timesunion.com/hudsonvalley/news/article/closed-prison-development-warwick-business-park-19770965.php |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250203171139/https://www.timesunion.com/hudsonvalley/news/article/closed-prison-development-warwick-business-park-19770965.php |archive-date=2025-02-03 |access-date=2025-04-10 |work=Times Union |language=en}} The WVLDC secured {{USD|3700000}} in private equity to pay New York State for the commercial development land, whilst the woodlands were transferred to Warwick for a nominal fee of {{USD|1}}. On September 26th 2015, Wickham Woodlands Park opened.{{Cite web |title=PHOTO GALLERY: Warwick to open new park |url=https://www.recordonline.com/picture-gallery/news/local/2015/09/21/photo-gallery-warwick-to-open/721772007/ |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=Times Herald-Record |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Wickham Woodlands rises from former prison site |url=https://www.warwickadvertiser.com/news/local-news/wickham-woodlands-rises-from-former-prison-site-LWWA20150825150829974 |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=www.warwickadvertiser.com |language=en-US}}

The commercial redevelopment of the site became Warwick Valley Office & Technology Corporate Park.{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210612232602/http://www.warwickcorporatepark.com/|archive-date=2021-06-12|url=http://www.warwickcorporatepark.com|title=Warwick Valley Office & Technology Corporate Park homepage}} Redevelopment and infrastructural improvements to the site were expected to cost {{USD|7500000}}, with state funding suppliying {{USD|3000000}}.{{Cite web |last=Reporter |first=Staff |title=State kicks in $3 million for Warwick prison project |url=https://www.recordonline.com/story/news/2015/12/28/state-kicks-in-3-million/32820983007/ |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=Times Herald-Record |language=en-US}} On July 26th 2024, the WVLDC announced it had completed the redevelopement with the sale of the last parcel.{{Cite web |last=Dispatch |first=Warwick |date=2024-09-18 |title=The Warwick Valley Local Development Corporation completes the re-development of the former Mid-Orange Correctional Facility and presents the Warwick Town Board with a check for $1.5 million dollars. |url=https://www.wvdispatch.com/2024/09/the-warwick-valley-local-development-corporation-completes-the-re-development-of-the-former-mid-orange-correctional-facility-and-presents-the-warwick-town-board-with-a-check-for-1-5-million-dollars/ |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=The Warwick Valley Dispatch |language=en-US}} Businesses on the site include the Hudson Sports Complex, Drowned Lands Brewery,{{Cite web |last=Axelrod |first=Daniel |title=Craft beer isn't the only attraction at new brewery on former prison site |url=https://www.recordonline.com/story/news/2020/09/28/drowned-lands-a-bucolic-brewery-opens-at-the-former-warwick-prison-property/3514197001/ |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=Times Herald-Record |language=en-US}} as well as cannabis industry companies Green Thumb Industries, UrbanXtracts, Phyto-Farma labs, and Citiva Medical.{{Cite web |last=RCBJ-Connect |date=2024-12-22 |title=Warwick's Transformation Of Prison Campus To Thriving Business Hub & Recreational Site Should Be Studied By Haverstraw & Stony Point |url=https://rcbizjournal.com/2024/12/22/warwicks-transformation-of-prison-campus-to-thriving-business-hub-recreational-site-should-be-studied-by-haverstraw-stony-point/ |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=Rockland County Business Journal |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2023-01-27 |title=7 On Your Side: Warwick, NY planting seed for Marijuana boom after state prison shut down |url=https://abc7ny.com/dan-krauth-7-on-your-side-new-york-marijuana/12742146/ |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=ABC7 New York |language=en}}

Remaining buildings of the former prison and school are the subject of haunted house tours and ghost hunting.{{Cite web |date=2023-07-20 |title=Paranormal activity in abandoned Mid-Orange prison {{!}} Part 1 (Video) {{!}} New York Post |url=https://nypost.com/video/paranormal-activity-in-abandoned-mid-orange-prison-part-1/ |access-date=2025-04-10 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Welber |first=Bobby WelberBobby |date=2022-04-08 |title=Hudson Valley School 1 Of The 'Most Haunted' Places in New York |url=https://hudsonvalleypost.com/hudson-valley-school-1-of-the-most-haunted-places-in-new-york/ |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=Hudson Valley Post |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Complex |first=Hudson Sports |date=2019-10-12 |title=Halloween Prison Tours at Hudson Sports Complex {{!}} Haunted House - Warwick, NY |url=https://www.hudsonsportscomplex.com/post/halloween-prison-tours-at-hsc |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=HudsonSportsComplex |language=en}}

• Gerald Garson, former New York Supreme Court Justice, convicted of accepting bribes

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== External links ==

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060923163233/http://www.docs.state.ny.us/faclist.html NY prison information]
• [https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/263093066 Warwick Valley Local Development Corporation]

{{State prisons in New York}}

Category:Prisons in New York (state)

Category:Economy of Orange County, New York

Category:2011 disestablishments in New York (state)

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