York Correctional Institution Inmate Records

York Correctional Institution Overview

York Correctional Institution is run by the Connecticut Department of Correction, the state agency that took over the old county jails in 1968. York is not a county jail and not a women's county jail. It is a state prison, and it is the only Connecticut institution that holds female offenders. Women and girls are housed here at every security level from Level 2 through Level 5. A security level is a rating that sets how closely a person must be watched, with higher numbers meaning tighter control.

The prison stands at 201 West Main Street in Niantic, a village inside the town of East Lyme. That address is why York appears on a New London County resource at all. The facility sits physically in the county, so a woman arrested anywhere in New London County may be held here. York still serves all of Connecticut's Superior Courts, which makes it both a local site and a statewide one. The grounds cover 425 acres, and the Department of Correction reports a designed capacity of 1,458 in its 2025 PREA audit.

The official Department of Correction page lays out the prison's leadership and statewide role. You can read the agency's summary on the official DOC York facility page, which lists the address, phone, and the prison's job as the state's women's institution. The page confirms York manages every pretrial and sentenced woman in Connecticut, at any security level, including female offenders under 18.

The captured page gives the same facts a visitor or family member would need before trying to find a woman in custody. It shows that record access for York runs through the state, not through a local sheriff, which shapes every lookup tied to this facility.

Who Is Held at York

York holds two broad groups of women. The first is the accused, which means people who have been charged but not yet found guilty. They are held while their cases move through court. The second group is the sentenced, women who have been convicted and given a term to serve. Both groups live at York because Connecticut runs one unified system instead of separate county jails and state prisons. The Department of Correction is clear that current custody does not always mean a conviction, since accused women are still waiting for trial.

The numbers show the split. The June 1, 2026 monthly statistics counted 874 women confined at York and no men. Of those, 478 were sentenced, 387 were accused, and 9 were held on federal status. The race breakdown from that same report listed 456 White, 230 Black, 177 Hispanic, 4 American Indian, and 7 Asian. York also holds youthful offenders. The 2025 PREA audit recorded an age range of 17 to 77, which confirms that female offenders under 18 are housed here when the state takes them into custody.

Because York takes women from every part of the state, a New London County arrest is just one path into the prison. A woman whose case is heard in New London or Norwich can still be held at York. Men from that same court stream go to Corrigan Correctional Center instead, since Corrigan holds the male pretrial and sentenced population for the area. The two prisons together form the local custody map for the county.

York Capacity and Population

York is large for a single institution, and its population has shifted year to year. The 2025 PREA audit set the designed capacity at 1,458 beds and recorded 876 women on the day of the audit, with a 12-month average daily population of 838. That audit found the prison was not over capacity in the prior 12 months. A more recent state open-data count from June 2, 2026 put the total at 872, split into 394 accused or other and 478 sentenced. The May 2026 average population was 860.

The sourced figures sit side by side in the table below. Each one carries its own report and date, since population counts move with intake, release, and court action. Use these as a snapshot, not a live count.

The CT DOC monthly statistics archive holds the report behind the June 2026 figures. The custody-level mix from the PREA audit ran from 79 at Level 1 up to 329 at Level 4, which shows how wide a range of women York must manage under one roof.

How to Look Up an Inmate at York

There is no York-only public roster. Because York is a state prison, the right tool is the statewide Connecticut Department of Correction inmate search. It covers every woman in DOC custody at York, both accused and sentenced, and it is updated daily. The state service says you can search by name, by date of birth, or by Connecticut DOC number, which is the unique ID the agency assigns each person. The search does not include records sealed under the Youthful Offender Statute, and it leaves out people held only for federal immigration authorities.

1. Open the CT DOC inmate search, or start from the DOC inmate information page to read the daily-update and exclusion notes first.
2. Search by the woman's DOC number if you know it, since that is the narrowest identifier. If not, search by name and date of birth.
3. Check the result to confirm she is housed at York Correctional Institution and not another DOC facility.
4. Open the profile to view custody status, sentence or accused standing, and facility location.

If a woman was just arrested in a New London County town, she may not show up right away, since the system updates once a day and police or court steps may still be in progress. The charges themselves do not live on the facility page. Those stay in the Judicial Branch criminal case lookup. For the broader walk-through that covers phone and records-request fallbacks, see the jail inmate records page.

York Address and Contact

The fastest way to reach York is by phone, and the official postal address uses the Niantic form. For questions the facility cannot answer, the DOC Public Information Office handles offender information during weekday hours. Call the prison before any visit, since a correctional institution does not run a walk-in records lobby the way a county sheriff might.

Warden Trina Sexton leads the prison, with Deputy Wardens Katherine Iozzia, Anna Maria Verdura, and Jennifer Page. Attorneys and other professionals can arrange visits through York.ProfVisit@ct.gov. The prison's leadership and contact details also appear on the DOC facility page linked above.

Visiting Someone at York

A visit at York starts with the approved visiting list. A visitor must be on the woman's active list before any visit, and the prison can cancel visits for safety or security reasons. In-person social visits do not require prescheduling per current research notes, but the visitor still must be approved and active. Video visits work differently. They must be scheduled through the DOC Visit Request Form, and they run over Microsoft Teams with a valid email and a facility confirmation. Eligible women are allowed two weekday visits in total and one weekend visit.

The general DOC rules still apply. Bring a valid photo ID, arrive at least 15 minutes early, and leave phones and electronic devices outside, since they are not allowed inside. No more than two visitors, children included, may join an in-person visit, and attire must be reasonably modest. Visits do not happen on state-observed holidays. You can schedule a video visit through the DOC Visit Request Form, and the full rules are on the agency's main visiting resources.

York also runs a family program that few prisons offer. The Caregiver and Me program brings mothers, children, and caregivers together for focused visits. To take part, a mother must be enrolled in or have finished parenting programming, and the child must be on her approved visitor list. Always check the current York schedule before you travel, because dates and slots change.

Mail, Phone, and Money at York

Mail to a woman at York must carry her full name and inmate number, followed by the prison name and street address. Staff open and inspect mail for contraband, though legal mail is opened in the inmate's presence and not read. Phone service runs through Securus, the DOC vendor, and women cannot receive incoming calls. Money can go in by U.S. mail, JPay, TouchPay, or Western Union, with the Inmate Trust Fund handling mailed deposits. The commissary lets women order weekly, with a spending limit set in the handbook.

When you mail money, include the woman's first name, middle initial, last name, inmate number, and date of birth, plus your own full name and address. Padded envelopes are discouraged, since they raise security concerns and can slow delivery. These are the same statewide DOC rules that apply across all of its prisons.

Programs That Make York Different

York runs programs that set it apart from other Connecticut prisons. The most well known is the Marilyn Baker House, an 80-bed unit for intensive inpatient drug treatment. Women with serious substance problems live there while they work through recovery. York also keeps a hospice program staffed by trained inmate volunteers, who care for women near the end of life. A Correctional Enterprise tailoring program puts women to work sewing offender uniforms, which builds a real job skill.

Two programs stand out for how local and unusual they are. The Second Chance Corral pairs York with the Connecticut Department of Agriculture, and the women care for abused farm animals that need a safe shelter. The Caregiver and Me program, covered in the visiting section above, keeps mothers connected to their children. Over the years, York work crews have given community service to groups including the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, Camp Hazen, the New London Housing Authority, and the OpSail 2000 event.

• Marilyn Baker House: 80-bed intensive inpatient drug treatment unit.
• Hospice program staffed by trained inmate volunteers.
• Correctional Enterprise tailoring of offender uniforms.
• Second Chance Corral, a Department of Agriculture partnership caring for abused farm animals.
• Community service crews for local camps, housing, and civic events.

The Department of Correction credits York with drawing international attention for how it runs its programs and manages its population. That recognition reflects the breadth of services packed into one institution.

York History and Local Details

York's roots reach back more than a century. The site opened in 1918 as the Connecticut State Farm and Reformatory for Women. An addition in 1930 expanded it, and the place was renamed Niantic Correctional Institution. The state added 224 dormitory-style beds in 1988 and 196 celled beds in 1997, slowly building the capacity the prison carries today across its 425 acres.

The modern prison opened in October 1994 and took the name York Correctional Institution. It honors Janet S. York, who served as warden at Niantic from 1960 to 1975 and as a DOC deputy commissioner from 1969 to 1977. In 1996, York and Niantic consolidated into one institution. The old Niantic Annex closed in January 2016 as Connecticut's prison population kept falling, and it has stayed shut since then.

York has earned national notice for its health care. In 2008 the National Commission on Correctional Health Care named it Facility of the Year, and that accreditation was renewed as of June 2011. The long arc from a 1918 reformatory to a modern accredited prison gives York a history unlike any other custody site in the county.

York Oversight and Conditions

Outside review of York comes through two main channels. The PREA audit checks a prison against the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act standards. York's 2025 PREA audit found 45 standards met and 0 not met, with 568 staff who have inmate contact, 10 contractors, and 207 volunteers. The Office of the Correction Ombuds, a state watchdog, issued a 2025 report on conditions across the system. It singled out York, the only women's prison, for lacking a law library, and it recommended restoring one so women can reach legal materials.

Drivers heading to York can pull turn-by-turn routes from the agency before a visit. The official directions cover trips from Hartford, the New Haven and Bridgeport area, the Danbury and Waterbury area, and eastern Connecticut.

The captured directions page comes straight from the official DOC York directions page, which is the safest source for the routes since the prison sits off main roads in Niantic. Confirm parking and entrance steps with the prison before you arrive, since the directions page does not publish lot rules.