Ronald DeFeo, Jr., tried and convicted of killing his parents and four siblings at their home in Amityville, New York. The case inspired Jay Anson's novel The Amityville Horror.
Robert Golub, convicted for the murder of 13-year-old Kelly Anne Tinyes, who lived five doors away from his home. She was killed inside his home in Valley Stream, New York, on March 3, 1989. On March 3, 2009, this case was reopened.
John Giuca, whose trial has been the subject of intense media attention following his mother's undercover operation to expose juror misconduct.
Joey Gallo, also known as "Crazy Joe" and "Joe the Blond", was a celebrated New York City gangster for the Profaci crime family, later known as the Colombo crime family. Gallo initiated one of the bloodiest mob conflicts since the 1931 Castellammarese War and was murdered as a result of it.
Daniel Genis, journalist and writer, spent three years in Green Haven and often writes about it.
Willie Sutton Bank robber who escaped from this prison in the 1940s
Correction officer deaths
There have been at least two deaths of correction officers in the line of duty. The first was of Donna Payant on May 15, 1981, who disappeared while working at the prison. Her body was later found in a garbage dump 20 miles away, sexually violated and strangled, similar to the bodies of victims of serial killer Lemuel Smith, an inmate at the prison. A bite mark on Payant's chest also matched Smith's tooth pattern. It was determined that Smith had sexually assaulted and strangled Payant in the prison chaplain's office before putting her body in a trash bag and throwing it out with the trash. On January 31, 2007, a correction officer in Tower One was found dead due to an apparent gunshot wound to the head. Fire and police were dispatched around 10:30 p.m., when they found the hatch to the ladder blocked, they used a Beekman Fire Department ladder truck to break in and get access. The tower was closed for investigation, and the death was deemed a suicide.
Previous death house facility
In the early 1970's, New York's electric chair "Old Sparky" was moved here from Sing Sing Correctional Facility. Capital punishment was reinstated in New York in 1995 when Governor George Pataki signed a new statute into law, which provided for execution by lethal injection. On June 24, 2004, in the case People v. LaValle, the New York Court of Appeals struck down the statute as unconstitutional under the New York Constitution. Although seven individuals were sentenced to death, no one was executed, and the Court of Appeals later commuted the sentence of the final individual under a sentence of death in New York on October 23, 2007, in the case People v. John Taylor. In July 2008, Governor David Paterson issued an executive order requiring the disestablishment of death row and the closure of the state's execution chamber at Green Haven Correctional Facility.
Inmate resources and services
Inmates at Green Haven Correctional Facility can get jobs through the NYSDOCCS Correctional industries. The jobs they can receive are, working in an upholstery shop as well as furniture manufacturing. Inmates incarcerated at this facility can also receive vocational training such as, barbering, building maintenance, computer information and technology, computer operator, computer repair, custodial maintenance, electrical, painting and decorating, printing and finally, small engine repair. Inmates may also earn GEDs or college education. Prisoners will also receive counseling as well as drug and alcohol treatment.
The Bard Prison Initiative, which seeks to reduce rates of recidivism and offer prisoners college education and tutoring, operates at multiple prisons including Green Haven.
In the media
Inmates and correctional officers at Green Haven were featured in the PBSFrontline program A Class Divided. The Facility is made reference to in the film Carlito's Way. It is also featured in an episode of , that features an elaborate prison break.
