What is now called Auburn Correctional Facility has been open in Auburn since 1817, and it is the oldest continually operating prison in the country. Auburn's claim to being the preeminent American prison is bolstered by its many firsts. Auburn was the first prison in the world to house convicts in individual cells and the first prison in the country to employ a chaplain and put a matron in charge of the women prisoners. Auburn Prison developed the widely duplicated system of inmate manage...