page_title: Auburn Correctional Facility
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Auburn Correctional Facility / History
caption_attribution_description: English: The front of Auburn Correctional Facility.
context_page_description: Auburn Correctional Facility is a state prison on State Street in Auburn, New York, United States. It was built on land that was once a Cayuga village. It is classified as a maximum security facility.
context_section_description: Constructed in 1816 as Auburn Prison, it was the second state prison in New York (after New York City's Newgate, 1797–1828), the site of the first execution by electric chair in 1890, and the namesake of the "Auburn system," a correctional system in which prisoners were housed in solitary confinement in large rectangular buildings, and performed penal labor under silence that was enforced at all times. The prison was renamed the Auburn Correctional Facility in 1970.  The prison is among the oldest functional prisons in the United States.
  In its early years, the prison charged a fee to tourists in order to raise funds for the prison. Eventually, to discourage most visitors, the fee was increased.
caption: The current front of Auburn Prison. Note the two guard towers on either side and Copper John on top
exif: {}