Shrinking prisons accounted for 359 of Orleans County’s 2,540 population drop
Orleans shows largest percentage decline in WNY in 2020 Census count
Photos by Tom Rivers – Albion Correctional Facility looms large at the end of Washington Street in Albion. The site is the largest women’s prison in the state. In 2020, Albion Correctional had 759 female inmates out of the 1,315 women incarcerated in the state prisons.
When the Census population counts came out in mid-August, the data showed Orleans County had the largest percentage decline in Western New York.
Countywide the population went down 5.9 percent, or by 2,540 people from 42,883 in 2010 to 40,343 in 2020.
Among the 10 towns in the county, Albion had the biggest percentage loss, down 829 residents or a 9.8 percent drop – from 8,468 in 2010 to 7,639 in 2020.
The two state prisons are in the town of Albion and there has been much news attention about the shrinking inmate population with bail reform and a push to reduce the inmate population due to Covid-19 concerns.
Orleans Hub submitted a Freedom of Information request to the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision in August.
Today we were given answers to our questions about how the local and state-wide inmate population changed from 2010 to 2020.
The number of inmates is down at the two prisons, but not at the rate experienced statewide among the incarcerated population.
Statewide the number of inmates declined 39.9 percent from 2010 to 2020, down by 22,824 from 57,229 in 2010 to 34,405 in 2020.
The inmate population saw its biggest decline from 2019 to 2020, decreasing by 22.3 percent in one year, or by 9,871 inmates – from 44,276 to 34,405.
State-wide, here is how the inmate population changed each year from 2010 to 2020:
- 2010 – 57,229
- 2011 – 55,979, down 1,250 or 2.2%
- 2012 – 54,865, down 1,114 or 2.0%
- 2013 – 54,142, down 723 or 1.3%
- 2014 – 53,103, down 1,039 or 1.9%
- 2015 – 52,344, down 759 or 1.4%
- 2016 – 51,466, down 878 or 1.7%
- 2017 – 50,271, down 1,195 or 2.3%
- 2018 – 47,459, down 2,812 or 5.6%
- 2019 – 44,276, down 3,183 or 6.7%
- 2020 – 34,405, down 9,871 or 22.3%
The Orleans Correctional Facility is lined with a razor-wire fence. The facility was built on Gaines Basin Road about four decades ago.
The two local state prisons include the Albion Correctional Facility, a women’s prison, and Orleans Correctional Facility, a medium-security prison for men.
Albion Correctional is down 147 inmates over the 10 years from 906 to 759, a 16.2 percent decline. Orleans Correctional is down 212 inmates in the 10 years from 985 to 773, a 21.5 percent drop.
The total decline of 359 inmates at the two prisons accounts for 14.1 percent of the county’s 2,540-resident reduction in the 10 years.
The data from the Census Bureau shows a population drop in nearly every Orleans County municipality. Yates was the only municipality to avoid a loss in residents, but just barely. The town grew by 8 people or by 0.3 percent.
