By Teri Weaver
Syracuse Media Group
DUTCHESS COUNTY, N.Y. — Before coronavirus hit New York, prisoners at Green Haven Correctional Facility in Dutchess County were making 200 to 250 coffins a week.
Now state prisoners are making about 1,400 coffins a week. The work has expanded to Auburn Correctional Facility, which is now making about 200 coffins a week, state officials say.
That grim count is part of the state’s efforts to use incarcerated people as part of the response to COVID-19. Prisoners are also making masks and bottling hand sanitizer.
Prisoners in New York make an array of products, from office furniture and license plates to clothing and dormitory beds. The state sells the products under the brand name Corcraft, which generates about $53 million in annual revenue, according to a report from the state comptroller’s office. Corcraft only sells to other state and local government agencies, schools, courts and first responders. Some non-profit organizations are allowed to buy the goods.
The prison system has been producing coffins since 2008. Typically, the pine, rectangular-shaped boxes were for use by the prison system and rarely sold to outside customers.
The state reported this week seven deaths so far among its prison inmates.
Last month, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced prisoners would be part of the ramp-up in products needed during the coronavirus pandemic. Then, he said, they would start making hand sanitizer that would be supplied for free to government agencies throughout the state.
Corcraft’s products already included an array of soaps and industrial cleaners. To date, the state has distributed 1.6 million bottles of hand sanitizer.
Now, that has expanded to coffins and masks. So far, prisoners have made 272,000 masks, according to the state’s corrections agency. Those are being made at Clinton Correctional in Clinton County and Coxsackie Correctional Facility in Greene County, according to the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.
They are not N95 masks but they meet most specifications for that level of protection, according to a state spokeswoman.
Critics have said the reliance on prisoners is unfair. They make, on average, 62 cents per hour.
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