At tour of women’s prison in Albion, community members see programs to help the incarcerated

Prison officials say facility remains in ‘recovery phase’ after strike, trying to fill many positions

Photos by Tom Rivers: Melinda Samuelson, superintendent of the Albion Correctional Facility, gave a tour last week to about a dozen community members, including County Legislator John Fitzak at left, who is retired as a corrections officer next door at Orleans Correctional Facility.

ALBION – The Albion Correctional Facility last week gave community members a tour of the women’s prison. This is the third year the facility has let in some local business owners, clergy, elected officials and others for the tour.

Prison leaders said the facility is hiring, seeking to fill many civilian positions and more than 100 jobs as corrections officers.

The tour highlighted educational and vocational training opportunities for the incarcerated population.

“We’re very proud of what goes on inside the prison walls,” said Melinda Samuelson, the Albion Correctional superintendent. “We have a desire to help. We want them to leave on track and better prepared.”

She said many of the staff choose to stay at Albion long-term for their careers, with some even driving well over an hour each way. Some employees have left to work at other prisons and returned to Albion.

Greg Bennett, an Albion village trustee, works in the prison as a locksmith. He was on the tour last week. He said he wished he had taken a job at the prison sooner. He said there are good benefits and pay, and plenty of room for advancement.

Albion Correctional, besides needing to fill many corrections officer positions, also is hiring for keyboarding, mail, licensed practical nurse, registered nurse, vocational instructors, teachers, library clerk, recreation program leader, production control supervisor, administrative assistant and cooks. For more information, contact personnel at (585) 589-5511, ext. 3600.

Danielle Hodges (left), first deputy superintendent, walks with Se Starkweather Miller, the Albion village historian on the tour at the correctional facility, which several said would look like a college campus if there weren’t fences with razor wire on the perimeter.

The state’s prison system dominated the news with a 22-day strike by corrections officers that started Feb. 17 and ended March 10. About 2,000 corrections officers were fired when they didn’t report to work by a March 10 deadline. Staffing statewide at prisons dropped from about 13,500 before the strike to about 10,000 with many officers choosing to resign.

Corrections officers said the prisons have been short-staffed since long before the strike, resulting in far too much forced overtime, and COs said the prisons were less safe due to the HALT Act, which limits solitary confinement in prisons.

At Albion Correctional, the facility is about 130 officers short of being fully staffed and continues to have a National Guard presence. There are about 36 soldiers from the National Guard at Albion Correctional, down from 90 during the strike.

Albion Correctional should have 394 corrections officers to be fully staffed and currently is at about 260. (The facility also has 160 civilian jobs.)

The prison also has about 500 inmates, even though it was a capacity for 1,200. If the prison was at full capacity, it would need 463 COs and sergeants to be fully staffed, prison officials shared on the tour last week.

“We are in the recovery stage from the strike,” Samuelson said at the QWL building during a discussion before the tour. “Many have returned but we are still short. We are constantly recruiting.”

She said the administration strives to make the prison safer for staff and the incarcerated population. The COs have used body worn cameras since 2017 to record any of their interactions with inmates. There are 570 other CCTV cameras on site, and Samuelson said another 6,000 cameras are going in throughout the prison.

The prion’s top administration met with about a dozen people at the QWL building before heading out on a tour of Albion Correctional Facility.

Samuelson said the prison is doing more regional hiring. It used to be corrections officers and civilian staff often had family and friends that worked in a prison. But she said many COs no longer recommend the job.

Albion Correctional started doing the tours for the community in 2023 to try to shine a light on careers within the prison, she said, and the facility is doing more work fairs and listing positions on Indeed.

The administration also is trying to show staff more appreciation. One of the display boards had pictures of staff and thanked them for keeping the facility afloat during the recent strike and the continued staffing issues.

Albion Correctional has been holding steady at about 500 incarcerated women the past several years. She doubts the prison will get back near the 1,200.

Although the inmate population is much lower than its capacity, Samuelson said today’s incarcerated population often struggle with many challenges. More than 80 percent of the population has a diagnosed mental health issue, and many come to Albion plagued with drug addictions. About 130 of the inmates are on methadone treatment to help them with their opioid addictions. She said the prison reflects society with an increasing disrespect for others.

She praised the staff for teaching the incarcerated population new skills, better ways of dealing with anger and strategies for mental health challenges.

On the tour, the community members saw inmates making garbage receptacles and metal furniture. They were welding and painting bins that are prevalent at state parks.

Jeff Benfer leads the vocational program at the prison where inmates learn metal fabrication, welding and painting. He said 32 inmates recently earned more than 250 occupational ed credits as the program rebuilds after the Covid pandemic.

During Covid, the metal fabrication and painting was shut down so inmates could bottle sanitizer. The shop was transformed into a bottling site with 48 inmates working two shifts each day.

Benfer, the industrial superintendent, also oversees a section where inmates use CNC lasers to engrave name plates for park police, state troopers and corrections officers. They also make numerous plaques. Benfer said the group is trying to get caught up on back orders.

A culinary café prepares breakfasts and lunches for staff. During the 22-day strike, the café served 4,500 meals for staff, including making deliveries.

The café serves breakfast burritos with home fries, monster sandwiches, French toast, sausage and cheesy grits. For lunch, there are cheeseburger with fries, chicken finger poutine, chicken dip, meatball sliders, fried bologna sandwich with chips and a pickle.

Mike O’Conner has been the horticulture program instructor the past 10 years. He teaches the incarcerated women in the program to grow and care for flowers and vegetables. The program has a competition among the residence halls to see which ones can best display their flowers. O’Conner, center, is shown chatting with Sue Starkweather Miller, the Albion village historian and also a master gardener through the Cornell Cooperative extension.

Troy Hopson, left, was on the tour. He is director of a juvenile program in Auburn for incarcerated girls.

Some of the produce grown by the horticulture program has been donated to Community Action in Albion.

Melinda Samuelson, the prison superintendent, and Sue Starkweather Miller take a close look at some of the flowers grown in the greenhouse. Starkweather Miller also is a master gardener through the Cornell Cooperative Extension. She said there are opportunities for the horticulture program to partner with the community.

Albion Correctional is one of only three women-only prisons in the state. The other two, Bedford Hills and Taconic Correctional, are on the other side of the state in Westchester County. Albion and Taconic are both medium-security while Bedford Hills is a maximum-security site.

Gov. Kathy Hochul said the state is looking to possibly close five prisons in the coming year. Samuelson believes Albion Correctional is in a good position to stay open as the only women’s prison in the western part of the state, and the many successful programs offered at the site.

The chapel at Albion Correctional Facility is one of the oldest structures remaining from the original prison complex built in the 1890s.

The site initially was established as the Western House of Refuge in 1890, with construction beginning in 1891 and operations starting in December 1893. The chapel was part of the initial complex.

The site has been a women-only prison since 1986.

The inside of the chapel shows where church services are held for the incarcerated population. Albion Correctional is trying to find a specialist to fix one of the old stained-glass windows above the pulpit.