Two upstate prisons holding nearly 1,000 inmates will be shuttered in a few months, correction officials confirmed Thursday — drawing outrage from critics who blame Democrat soft-on-crime policies for the closures.
The Great Meadow Correctional facility in Washington County and Sullivan Correctional Facility in Sullivan County – both maximum security prisons – will close on Nov. 6, the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision said.
The inmates will be transferred to the state’s remaining 13 other maximum security prisons in the state, a spokesman for DOCCS said.
The department left the door open for more prison closures. It is allowed to close up to five facilities under a provision of the state budget passed earlier this year.
The closure announcements drew quick condemnation from correction officers and Republican lawmakers.
“The governor has a funny way of showing she’s from Upstate New York,” state Sen. Jake Ashby (R-Washington), whose district includes one of the lockups said in a statement.
“Closing Great Meadows is a job-killing, community-devastating disaster that flies in the face of real statistics and can only be justified by misleading ones.”
State Sen. Peter Oberacker (R-Otsego), who represents Sullivan Correctional Facility, said: “If changes need to be made to our correctional system, then it should come with sound planning on how to fix it, adequate notice to all those affected, and a plan to help mitigate any negative economic impact on employees and communities.”
More than 900 staff members at the two closing prisons will have the opportunity to transfer to other facilities, the DOCCS said.
But the union representing correction officers blasted that premise — arguing that many staffers will choose to retire or find other jobs rather than uproot their families.
“Redistributing staff through prison closures will accomplish the same thing it has always accomplished: a short term staffing boost to a handful of facilities with little to no long term relief,” New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association President Chris Summers wrote in a statement.
“The State of New York needs to take bold and creative action to fix the staffing issue that is creating low morale and pushing members to their limits,” Summers said. “Closing prisons and expecting different results certainly is not bold and creative, it is shortsighted.”
Summers also chided Democrats for pushing to stop solitary confinement and to increase programs offered in prisons while not working to boost the staffing required to run them.
According to DOCCS, New York’s prison population has rapidly declined since 1999 when roughly 73,000 people were behind state bars. As of Thursday, DOCCS says that number is at around 33,000.
“If we do not see an increase in recruitment, it may be necessary to consider additional closures within the fiscal year,” DOCCS wrote in a statement.
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office didn’t respond to request for comment.
