Green’s Dictionary of Slang

upstate adv.

(US, N.Y. Und.) in prison, at prison, to prison; occas. as n.

1934		T. Wilder Heaven’s my Destination 23: You get the strait-jacket [...] upstate.
1963		in T.I. Rubin Sweet Daddy 48: Shacked up to one broad the rest of my life. [...] I’d rather go upstate. Be a lot freer.
1964		H. Selby Jr Last Exit to Brooklyn 75: Youre alright Georgie [...] Yacan do me anytime. Too bad I didnt haveya upstate.
1966		J. Mills Panic in Needle Park (1971) 74: This kid I was upstate with, we used to have a singing group up there. We used to always sing. We’d sing practically half the bit away.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 27: We were bullshitting awhile about upstate.
1989		A. Vachss Hard Candy (1990) 17: Upstate, when you come in on a homicide beef, you know what they say about you?
1995		(con. 1985–90) P. Bourjois In Search of Respect 81: As soon as Felix recovered [...] he was sent ‘upstate’ to prison to serve an unrelated two-to four-year prison sentence for weapons possession.
2004		N. Kelley ‘The Code’ in Brooklyn Noir 172: Upon arriving upstate he had shanked two motherfuckers Day One who looked at him as if he were sweet meat.
2008		R. Price Lush Life 347: I don’t know. Maybe it’s time to go upstate. It’s getting too hard out here, you know?
2010		Codella and Bennett Alphaville (2011) 48: He’s been upstate for a long time.
2019		D. Winslow Border [ebook] [Y]ou’re a minor [...] If you get caught with it [i.e. a gun], you go to juvie for a few months. I get caught with it, I go upstate for years.

SE in slang uses

In phrases

go upstate (v.) [euph.]

(US Und.) to die by assassination.

2003

H. Hill A Good Fella’s Guide To N.Y. 61: ‘He went upstate’ meant the guy got whacked, and don’t ask again.