Hochul’s budget proposes closing up to 5 state prisons, doesn’t say which ones

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s $233 billion budget proposal includes closing up to five state prisons, but doesn’t say which ones.

Of the 44 prisons in the state, there are two in Orleans County: Albion Correctional Facility, a women’s prison, and Orleans Correctional, a medium-security men’s prison.

“The Executive Budget includes legislation to allow the State to act expeditiously to right-size and eliminate excess capacity by allowing for the closure of up to five correctional facilities with 90 days’ notice. This legislation will allow for an increase in the operational efficiency of the correctional system,” states the budget book briefing from Hochul’s administration.

The New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association, a union for corrections officers, said it  is “deeply concerned that closures will exacerbate prison violence, cause relocated staff to leave service through resignation and retirement, and further the cycle of unsustainable staff attrition and prison violence.”

The announcement of impending closures comes at a time of increased violence that requires higher staffing ratios and lower inmate density, NYSCOPBA said.

Assaults on staff increased 13.4 percent in 2023, following a 25 percent increase the previous year when the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act (HALT) went into effect. Incarcerated individual assaults increased 41.5 percent in 2023, followed by a 34 percent increase in 2022, the union said.

“As the violence increases and staffing levels plummet, mandatory overtime for correction officers and sergeants has spiked to record highs,” said Chris Summers, NYSCOPBA president. “This overtime is well documented and it is unsustainable. Continuous mandates are straining members’ physical and mental health, their families, and their quality of life.  Members are burning out at alarming rates. How can the State of New York demand that our members continue working in these conditions and have the mental and physical ability to keep incarcerated individuals and staff safe? Members need relief.”

Prisons are safest for staff and incarcerated people when the facilities are properly staffed and when incarcerated individuals are not forced to live on top of one another, the union said.

“Closing facilities fails to provide a long-term solution to staffing because staff do not want to uproot their families to move hours away,” NYSCOPBA stated in a news reelase. “Closing facilities fails to provide a long-term solution to violence because more densely populated prisons make it increasingly difficult to separate the bad actors from preying upon those who are quietly serving their sentences.”