Cuomo announces prison closures

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Seven New York state prisons will be closed as part of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s pledge to consolidate the state’s correctional facilities based on a declining inmate population.

Communities affected by the closures will be able to request economic development assistance from the state, which includes money from a $50 million fund as well as additional tax credits available to help end the reliance on prisons as a major source of employment and economic sustainability.

The state’s closure plan includes four male minimum security facilities: Buffalo Work Release (Erie County), Camp Georgetown (Madison County), Summit Shock (Schoharie County) and Fulton Work Release (Bronx County); and three male medium security facilities: Arthur Kill (Richmond County), Mid-Orange (Orange County) and Oneida (Oneida County).

Approximately 3,800 unneeded and unused beds will be eliminated, saving taxpayers $72 million in 2011-12 and $112 million in 2012-13. The offenders in the affected facilities will be moved without interruption to other prisons that have available space. No maximum security facilities will close under this plan.

Since 1999, New York’s prison population has declined by 22 percent, from a high of 71,600 offenders incarcerated 12 years ago to approximately 56,000 today. The continuing downward trend of the state’s prison population is largely attributed to the simultaneous drop in crime across the state. Over the past 10 years, the overall rate of crime in New York has declined by 25 percent and the number of major crimes (e.g., homicide; assault) has declined by 23 percent.