Dedicated to Jesse Friedman

242 counts and a lifetime Class 3 sexual offender

Danamora Prison

Despite the attorney's plea for leniency, Boklan again recommended that the defendant serve the full sentence. Jesse is in the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora. Because Clinton is built on the side of a mountain, the hillside accounted for unique skiing activity in winter. It also accounts for another unique Clinton tradition. Small areas of the hillside are used as "courts," which groups of inmates call their own and where they gather to socialize, cook and eat, play cards, chess and checkers, and grow flower and vegetable gardens. The 300 established courts range in size from nine square feet to 25-by-50 feet and accommodate up to six men. The hillside crowded with courts has often been likened to a hobo jungle. The courts had their origins "in the rights of a few squatters," but their use has for years been sanctioned by facility officials. The court system is seen as playing a key role in the social structure of Clinton’s 2,900 inmates and the manage ment of this large population. Along with the creative programming based in the Annex, Clinton offers the core programs of modern corrections in New York state: academic education, vocational training, alcohol and substance abuse treatment and work assignments in areas such as facility maintenance, grounds keeping, food service, and industries. Some 450 inmates assigned to Clinton's Corcraft industrial program manufacture inmate clothing for DOCS and the New York City Department of Corrections, and Class B uniforms for DOCS Correction Officers. The Garment Shop also produces clothing for residents of the facilities operated by the Office of Mental Health and the Division for Youth. In 1989, Clinton was the 19th New York state correctional facility to be accredited by the ACA and will soon undergo its fourth reaccreditation audit. Ski jumping, bobsledding, and ice skating are practiced by some inmates. The bobsled run courses down a wide avenue between courts near the west wall. In summer the avenue is not appropriated for court use; it has the appearance of a fire-break running straight up the hill. Body builders. Four platform type spaces, equipped with weight-lifting articles, occupy a space close to the entrance to the yard. Football players. Organized (tackle) football is a big thing at Clinton. An inmate player reported that there are four teams, each numbering about 30 men. Basketball players. The number of basketball (and handball) players is about the same as the football contingency. Horseshoe players. A relatively small group. Television watchers. Several inmates occupy an area near the building where they watch two hooded television sets. Unlike many prisons, Clinton has little access to television. A two-channel radio station is piped into the cellblocks and available to inmates by individual earphones. One channel, I was told, carried sports programs; the other often carried the soundtrack of a television program on the air at that time. Source