Federal Correctional Institution, Otisville
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The Federal Correctional Institution, Otisville (FCI Otisville) is a medium-security United States
federal prison A federal prison is operated under the jurisdiction of a federal government as opposed to a state or provincial body. Federal prisons are used for people who violated federal law (U.S., Mexico), people considered dangerous (Brazil), or those sen ...
for male inmates located near
Otisville, New York Otisville is a village in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 969 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is part of the Kiryas Joel, New York, Kiryas Joel–Poughkeepsie, New York, Poughkeepsie–Newburgh ...
. It is operated by the
Federal Bureau of Prisons The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Justice that is responsible for all List of United States federal prisons, federal prisons ...
(BOP), a division of the
United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...
. It also includes a satellite prison camp for minimum-security male offenders.


Location

FCI Otisville is located in southeastern New York State, near the Pennsylvania and New Jersey borders, and northwest of New York City. It is from the
Otisville Correctional Facility Otisville Correctional Facility is a medium-security state prison located in Orange County, New York, United States. It is located adjacent to the federal system prison ( Federal Correctional Institution, Otisville), but each facility operat ...
, a medium-security state prison. It is from
Monticello, New York Monticello ( ) is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village located in Thompson, New York, Thompson, Sullivan County, within the Catskills region of New York, United States. It is the seat for the town of Thompson, and the county ...
, from Kiryas Joel, and from Monsey.


Notable incidents

On August 11, 2009, former correction officer Hope Spinato (assigned to FCI Otisville) was sentenced to eight months in prison after pleading guilty to aiding and assisting an inmate serving a 17-year drug trafficking sentence, in briefly escaping the facility. An investigation by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
found that Spinato became involved in a relationship with the inmate (not identified by the Bureau of Prisons) and drove the inmate between the facility and her home, on several occasions.


In popular culture

George Jung, the basis for the 2001 film '' Blow'', served time at FCI Otisville, but was later transferred to the Federal Correctional Institution in
Fort Dix, New Jersey Fort Dix, the common name for the Army Support Activity (ASA) located at Joint Base McGuire–Dix–Lakehurst, is a United States Army post. It is located south-southeast of Trenton, New Jersey. Fort Dix is under the jurisdiction of the Air For ...
, before being released in 2017. In the
Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and author. His work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary ...
film ''
25th Hour ''25th Hour'' is a 2002 American drama film directed by Spike Lee and starring Edward Norton. Adapted by David Benioff from his 2001 debut novel '' The 25th Hour'', it tells the story of a man's last 24 hours of freedom as he prepares to go to ...
'', the protagonist Montgomery "Monty" Brogan spends his final day commiserating with friends and family before reporting to Otisville for a seven-year sentence. In the opening of the 2010, film '' Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps'', the sequel to the 1987 film ''
Wall Street Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...
'',
Gordon Gekko Gordon Gekko is a composite character in the 1987 film '' Wall Street'' and its 2010 sequel '' Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps'', both directed by Oliver Stone. Gekko was portrayed in both films by actor Michael Douglas, who won the Academy A ...
, played by
Michael Douglas Michael Kirk Douglas (born September 25, 1944) is an American actor and film producer. He has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and the ...
, is released after serving an eight-year sentence for
insider trading Insider trading is the trading of a public company's stock or other securities (such as bonds or stock options) based on material, nonpublic information about the company. In various countries, some kinds of trading based on insider informati ...
and
securities fraud Securities fraud, also known as stock fraud and investment fraud, is a deceptive practice in the stock or commodities markets that induces investors to make purchase or sale decisions on the basis of false information.corporate raid In business, a corporate raid is the process of buying a large stake in a corporation and then using shareholder voting rights to require the company to undertake novel measures designed to increase the share value, generally in opposition to t ...
er in the first movie. Although the scene was actually shot at
Sing Sing Sing Sing Correctional Facility is a maximum-security prison for men operated by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision in the village of Ossining (village), New York, Ossining, New York, United States. It is abou ...
state prison, Gekko mentions in the film that he served his sentence at FCI Otisville. In ''
The Mindy Project ''The Mindy Project'' is an American romantic comedy television series created by and starring Mindy Kaling that began airing on Fox in September 2012 and finished its six-season run on Hulu in November 2017. The series was co-produced by Unive ...
'', nurse Morgan refers to his time in Otisville for the theft of cars with his cousin. In 2019, Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino, who is famous from the
MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...
show ''
Jersey Shore The Jersey Shore, commonly called the Shore by locals, is the coast, coastal region of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The term encompasses about of shore, oceanfront bordering the Atlantic Ocean, from Perth Amboy, New Jersey, Perth Amboy in the n ...
'', was sentenced to eight months for tax fraud. In the 7th season’s second episode of '' Billions'', the prison is featured as the place where former New York Attorney General and United States Attorney for the
Southern District of New York The Southern District of New York is a federal judicial district that encompasses the counties of New York (Manhattan), Bronx, Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, Orange, Dutchess, and Sullivan. Federal offices or agencies operating in the distri ...
Chuck Rhoades visits former US Attorney General Jock Jeffcoat, who is incarcerated there. In Season 3 Episode 4 of ''
Succession Succession is the act or process of following in order or sequence. Governance and politics *Order of succession, in politics, the ascension to power by one ruler, official, or monarch after the death, resignation, or removal from office of ...
'', Tom Wambsgans mentions Otisville as "the Jewish jail" while looking through a list of prisons where he will potentially be incarcerated.


Jewish demographics

Aleph Institute The Aleph Institute is an American non-profit organization affiliated with the Chabad-Lubavitch movement that provides support services to the approximately 85,000 Jews in the U.S. prison system and Jewish members of the U.S. military located in ...
's prison outreach director, Rabbi Menachem Katz, stated that the BOP is "unofficially designated it to meet the needs of Orthodox Jews" due to the proximity to the Jewish population of New York City. "Even so, it's a big deal among the unfree at the medium-security federal prison in Otisville, .. (making it clear that this is the federal, not state, prison) Circa 2008 the warden of the prison stated 58 prisoners were Jewish, while Jewish Prisoner Services International chairman Gary Friedman stated that about 120 prisoners were Jewish. FCI Otisville offers
Passover Seder The Passover Seder is a ritual feast at the beginning of the Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday of Passover. It is conducted throughout the world on the eve of the 15th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar (i.e., at the start of the 15th; a Hebrew d ...
s, done in the prison cafeteria. Until other prisons began offering seders, prisoners at those institutions took buses to Otisville to partake in seders. Peter Hyman of ''New York'' magazine wrote "Otisville still offers one of the more traditional Seders in the prison system." Religious Jewish inmates request assignment to FCI Otisville for these reasons.


Notable inmates (current and former)


Current


Former


See also

*
List of United States federal prisons The Federal Bureau of Prisons classifies prisons into seven categories: * United States penitentiaries * Federal correctional institutions * Private correctional institutions * Federal prison camps * Administrative facilities * Federal correcti ...
*
Federal Bureau of Prisons The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Justice that is responsible for all List of United States federal prisons, federal prisons ...
*
Incarceration in the United States Incarceration in the United States is one of the primary means of punishment for crime in the United States. In 2021, over five million people were under supervision by the criminal justice system, with nearly two million people incarcerated ...


References


External links


Federal Bureau of Prisons: FCI Otisville
{{Federal Bureau of Prisons 1977 establishments in New York (state) Buildings of the United States government in New York (state) Buildings and structures in Orange County, New York Federal Correctional Institutions in the United States Economy of Orange County, New York Otisville, New York Prisons in New York (state)