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Warwick, NY – Seven state-run prison facilities in New York will be closed, under a plan introduced by Governor Andrew Cuomo. WAMC's Hudson Valley Bureau Chief Greg Fry takes a look at how the plans for one facility seem to change every day...
At the end of June, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the closure of seven state-run prisons. According to the Governor's office the closures will result in 72 million dollars in savings during the current fiscal year, and 112 million next year. The mid-Orange Correctional Facility, located in Orange County, New York will be closed, but when has been the question. The initial thought was that the facility would close December 1st, but WAMC News has learned that date has been bumped up to October 1st. New York State Assemblywoman Annie Rabbitt represents the district where mid-Orange is located. She says within 60 days, she's assuming that there will not be an inmate on the grounds.
Statewide, 38-hundred beds will be eliminated at four male minimum-security facilities, and three medium security facilities, including mid-Orange. There are over 500 inmates at the facility located in Warwick, and over 300 employees. Mike Mazzella is the mid-Hudson region Vice President for NYSCOPBA, the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association. He says there was no indication in the forefront that the facility would be included on the list of closures. Mazzella adds that the only information they were given was that the facility was closing, and that the decision was at the Governor's discretion.
Mazzella was in Albany Tuesday to meet with association leaders about transfer lists, which will be used for officers and security staff who will move to another facility.
Right now, Rabbitt says none of the workers at the facility will lose their jobs, and will be given a chance to transfer elsewhere. The Assemblywoman says mid-Orange was considered a workable area, where inmates could be transferred into other facilities throughout the Hudson Valley. She says it's too early to know what the plan is for mid-Orange past October 1st. Rabbitt says the facility must still be patrolled, and will still be owned by the state, until an economic development plan is developed.
Rabbitt calls it a "shock" that the facility was on the list. She mentions Sing Sing, the correctional facility located in Westchester County. Elected officials from the local and state level joined forces earlier this year to write to Governor Cuomo, asking that the facility be included in the closures this year. However, it did not make the list.
Mazzella agrees that the decision is a "done deal," and says there's not much else to do.
He says they can try and gain public support, and hold information meetings, but says the Governor had sole discretion over what facilities to close.
Under the Governor's plan, no maximum-security prisons statewide will be closed.