Albany Penitentiary was an American prison in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

that operated from 1848 until 1931. The prison was designed by Amos Pillsbury, also the first superintendent. Until the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, the main type of for-profit prison labor done at the penitentiary was the "making of coarse boots and shoes for the Southern negroes." After the closure of the Arsenal Penitentiary, Albany became the destination for prisoners of the

District of Columbia Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

. In 1910 the state prison commission issued a report with "scathing criticism of existing conditions" in the penitentiary. The prison was demolished in 1933, at which time demolition crews found "'dungeons' that were likely used to keep rule-breaking inmates in deep isolation." The turn-of-the-century Bertillion-system mugshots from the penitentiary are kept in the Albany Hall of Records.

References

History of Albany, New York 1848 establishments in New York (state) 1931 disestablishments in New York (state) Defunct prisons in New York (state) {{NewYork-stub