The Superintendent of State Prisons was an officer of the New York State government, who was in charge of the administration of the state prisons. The office was created by a constitutional amendment ratified in 1876, to succeed the three statewide elective New York State Prison Inspectors. The Superintendent was appointed to a five-year term by the Governor of New York, and confirmed by the New York Senate.
^"Sulzer Appoints Prison Investigator. George W. Blake, Newspaper Writer, to Inquire Into Department Affairs"(PDF). New York Times. March 15, 1913. Retrieved 2013-12-22. Gov. Sulzer to-day appointed George W. Blake, a New York newspaper writer, Special Commissioner to investigate the management and affairs of all the prisons and reformatories in the State. The Governor yesterday removed Col. Joseph F. Scott from the office of Superintendent of Prisons and nominated Judge John B. Riley of Plattsburg for the place. ...
^ ab"Albany Thinks Frank E. Wade Will Be Made New Prisons Superintendent". New York Times. January 19, 1916. Retrieved 2013-11-19. The defense of State Superintendent of Prisons, John B. Riley, to charges of misconduct in office preferred against him by Governor Whitman, closed today when ex-Senator Edgar Truman Brackett of Saratoga handed to the Governor his brief, urging that the charges be dismissed on the ground that they had been fully disproved by his client. ...