The Southport Correctional Facility was an ultra-maximum-security, or "
supermax",
prison
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...
, run by the
. It was located in the town of
Southport
Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England.
Southport lies on the Iris ...
, in the
Southern Tier
The Southern Tier is a geographic subregion of the broader Upstate New York region of New York State, consisting of counties west of the Catskill Mountains in Delaware County and geographically situated along or very near the northern border ...
of
New York State
New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. sta ...
, United States.
It was rare for a prisoner to be sent directly to Southport from the outside; virtually all of its inmates were transferred there after committing serious disciplinary infractions at some other prison in the state. On occasion, however, a particularly notorious inmate was sent there for "protective custody"; that is to say, to prevent him from being attacked by other inmates. One example was convicted child-killer
Joel Steinberg
Joel Barnet Steinberg (born May 25, 1941) is a disbarred New York City criminal defense attorney who attracted international media attention when he was accused of rape and murder and was convicted of manslaughter, in the November 1, 1987, beating ...
.
The prison closed on March 10, 2022.
History
The prison opened on October 11, 1988. The Plant Superintendent was Barry Capell.
Incidents
Southport became the scene of a riot on June 26, 1990, when fighting broke out among a group of approximately 250 inmates, eight of whom were injured in the melee, along with 19 members of the prison's staff.
Another incident, this one involving the taking of four employees as hostages, followed on May 28, 1991. Prisoners and correctional officers injured that day received care at nearby Arnot-Ogden Memorial Hospital and St. Joseph's Hospital in
Elmira, NY
Elmira () is a city and the county seat of Chemung County, New York, United States. It is the principal city of the Elmira, New York, metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses Chemung County. The population was 26,523 at the 2020 cen ...
.
Interview with inmate
Club promoter and convicted killer
Michael Alig
Michael Alig (April 29, 1966 – December 24, 2020) was an American club promoter and convicted felon. He was one of the ringleaders of the Club Kids, a group of young New York City clubgoers who became a cultural phenomenon in the late 1980s a ...
was transferred to Southport in 2000 and in an interview with ''
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
'' magazine said:
What Southport is famous for is the shit
''Shit'' is a word considered to be vulgar and profane in Modern English. As a noun, it refers to fecal matter, and as a verb it means to defecate; in the plural ("the shits"), it means diarrhea. ''Shite'' is a common variant in British ...
and the piss
Piss is a profanity, swear word. Piss(es) or pissing may refer to:
* Urine, a liquid by-product of the body that is secreted by the kidneys and excreted through the urethra
** Urination, the ejection of urine to the outside of the body
* ''Piss' ...
throwing. Because the inmates have no access to each other, what they do is fill cups up with shit and piss and throw it at each other. You get caught doing it once, they keep your hands handcuffed behind your back so you can't throw anything. So if you really still want to get your neighbor with shit, guess what you do? You put it in your mouth and when you get to the yard, you spit it on someone.
Notes
External links
NY prison information
1990 riots
Chemung County, New York
Chemung County is a county in the southern tier of the U.S. state of New York. The population was 84,148 as of the 2020 census. Its county seat is Elmira. Its name is derived from a Delaware Indian village whose name meant "big horn".
Chem ...
Prison uprisings in the United States
Prisons in New York (state)
1988 establishments in New York (state)
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