Some residents in Greene County, New York are still trying to halt construction of a new jail.
In February 2018, Greene County Jail was listed as one of the five worst in New York by the New York State Commission of Correction. The facility officially closed the following April after it was determined to be structurally unsound. Inmates were transferred to jails in surrounding counties, and there have been calls for a shared jail with Columbia County.
In September 2018, the Greene County Legislature voted to approve the construction of a $47 million dollar jail. Activists fear the cost could go higher when construction starts. Wayne Sheridan is head of the Greene County Taxpayers Association. "Some people say it could be as much as $90 million, which is the biggest capital expense ever in Greene County, and it will raise taxes again, people we trust say 15 to 20 percent each year for the next 30 years."
Sheridan would like to see the project placed on hold. Activists have unified under the banner "Pause and Rethink." Cassidy Bua lives in Palenville: "You know my concern is I'm a mom and I'm really interested in building a healthy opportunity-rich Greene County. I have a small business and I'm concerned that if this mega-jail goes through in Coxsackie that we'll become extremely limited in a number of ways and also that my personal taxes will just go up and become crippling to my family."
County Legislature Chair Patrick Linger is a Republican: "Last week we were asked to send a letter to our state leadership to see if there was any further action that we were gonna be taking that would allowed for a shared facility. Right now by New York state law it is not allowed by law. This group had asked if we would take a look and see if that's going to be coming forward. So we did that, we reached out to all those folks from both the Senate and the Assembly as well as the governor's office."
Could there be a state solution? Brooklyn Democratic Assemblyman Joseph Lentol chairs the Codes Committee that handles criminal justice matters in the state. "The state has embarked upon, over the last several years, because of the shrinking prison population that's happened in local counties, believe under the correction law that they need to, some believe that they need to have a county jail in each county, it isn't necessary but you can have one. But regionalization sometimes make more sense, and the bill would propose that for Greene and Columbia Counties so that the taxpayers wouldn't be burdened with the expense of a new jail nor the burden of taxes going forward."
Lentol's bill, which he says is on the fast track, should clarify the state's position on shared jails. "Well the legislative session ends June 19th, presumably, and it would have to go through before then. So it's not as though it's going to languish for a long period of time. It's gonna have to be decided in the next couple of weeks."
With the jail project about to receive its final permits, Bua urges Greene County residents to come together now. "On Wednesday the 29th there is going to be a special legislative meeting at the county offices and I think everybody who is interested in this should be coming to that meeting and also writing their legislators in anticipation of that meeting making sure that we're all heard."
