N.Y. Correct. Law § 500-i

§ 500-i. County workhouses. The board of supervisors of any county\nmay establish and maintain a workhouse for the confinement of persons\nconvicted within the county of crimes and criminal offenses, the\npunishment for which is imprisonment in the county jail, and may provide\nfor the imprisonment and employment therein of all persons sentenced\nthereto, and any court or judicial officer may sentence such person to\nsuch workhouse instead of to the county jail.\n