New York elected officials are protesting the coming closure of the Great Meadow Correctional Facility.
Nearly 1,000 correctional officers and local residents gathered in the parking lot of the Fort Ann Super Stop this past weekend to voice their objections to the early November closure of the Great Meadow Correctional Facility.
The state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision announced in July that the Washington County prison, which employs more than 550, would shutter November 6th.
DOCCs cited a “dramatic decline” in prison population in the decision, Great Meadow currently houses under 500 incarcerated individuals out of a maximum 1,600.
Among the elected officials present at the rally was Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik from New York’s 21st District.
“This closure will be the largest negative economic impact, the largest job loss in over 10 years for upstate New York. And it’s not just the 800, it’s not just correctional officers, it’s not just the civilians, it’s not just the spouses, think about the schools that are going to be impacted. Think about the small businesses, the convenience stores,” said Stefanik.
The budget signed by Governor Kathy Hochul in April allowed for the closure of up to five state correctional facilities.
Stefanik said the closure was another example of the Democratic governor turning her back on upstate.
“When we’re struggling with historic inflation, struggling with skyrocketing energy bills, utility bills, then to pull the rug out from under these families, many of whom are two parent households where both parents work at Great Meadow, it’s a disgrace,” said Stefanik.
The state has also cited cost savings and staffing shortages as reasons for closing Great Meadow and Sullivan Correctional Facility in Fallsburg. DOCCs says officers would be relocated to other facilities. Democratic State Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner of the 113th district emphasized that those reassignments, which could land an officer without much seniority as far west as Wyoming County, would be devastating to families.
“And I talked to an officer last night and he told me about a couple, she has a bit more seniority and will probably go to Coxsackie and he doesn’t, he’s probably going out west. So how does this work? Is somebody going to think about how to schedule their shifts so that one parent can always be home? I don’t think so. So how does this work? We measure the impacts in the children, and what the state is doing is destroying their family life,” said Woerner.
Woerner urged alternatives, like closing two of the six prisons around New Paltz.
“And there were options to ensure that we maintained that perspective that families come first. So, I am with you. My heart is with you. And I am in this fight because until they turn that key in the lock, it isn’t over,” said Woerner.
Republican State Senator Jim Tedisco from the state’s 44th district urged other lawmakers to support legislation that would require legislative approval for such closures.
“We gotta not talk the talk but walk the walk. If my colleagues, both sides of the isle, want to solve this problem, we’ve got a certain number of days to do it, they can bring us back, we can pass that bill, and they can say, we don’t ratify these five closures, we’re going to be check on this queenship,” said Tedisco.
Dr. Alice Green is the Executive Director of the Center for Law and Justice in Albany. She says Great Meadow has a reputation as one of the most dangerous and brutal prisons in the state.
“You know instead of having the leaders refer to the incarcerated people as ‘animals,’ both leaders should be working very hard with their communities and trying to find out how people are feeling, what is the impact of this closure going to be on them and what can they now do to develop something very positive in the community. It’s a great opportunity, and I hope that they see it as an opportunity, even though it’s painful, I understand that,” said Green.
At the rally, Republican State Senator Dan Stec of the 45th district called the closure a “sucker punch” and referred to those incarcerated as “the animals of society.”
“You know, I meet with a lot of groups, we all do. And usually when you meet with people that are in a union, they’re asking for more pay, more time off, better working conditions, better hours, better benefits. When people from corrections come to me they ask for a safe work environment. They ask to not have excrement thrown at them while they’re watching the animals of society,” said Stec.
Green says those protesting the closure could instead put their energy toward finding ways to develop the local economy without depending “on the destruction of Brown and Black people.”