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October 11, 2008

State lawmakers cautiously accept prison consolidation plan

Financial meltdown forcing sacrifices across state, say lawmakers

By JACOB RESNECK

SARANAC LAKE -- The North Country's lawmakers are reacting cautiously to a consolidation plan projected to save $81.6 million in the state prison system.

State Department of Correctional Services Commissioner Brian Fischer announced the plan last month in an effort to trim his agency's $2.4 billion budget.

LOCAL IMPACT

Locally, the plan calls for eliminating 10 work crews at Camp Gabriels in Franklin County and the shuttering of a 44-bed dormitory at Adirondack Correctional Facility in Ray Brook.

The plan also calls for the elimination of 10 correction-officer jobs at Camp Gabriels. Adirondack Correctional will lose five guard positions.

All the cuts will be through attrition, said DOCS spokesman Erik Kriss.

Since Gov. David Paterson ordered state agencies and authorities to cut more than 10 percent of their budgets, the commissioner has to find ways to save, Kriss said.

"You know these crews aren't free to the state; they cost money. They cost at least $60,000 a year because each crew is supervised by a correction officer."

CRISIS SITUATION

State Sen. Betty Little (R-Queensbury) said the state is facing a fiscal crisis -- especially with the meltdown on Wall Street -- and the agency will have to sit down with its employees and find ways to save.

"I have to say that I can understand where the commissioner is coming from. He is trying to do what he can with what he has."

Assemblywoman Janet Duprey (R-Peru) said agencies across the state are being asked to make sacrifices.

"I think everybody, at this point, is willing to watch and work together, and that's what it's going to be. I mean, this state is in terrible fiscal crisis."

Assemblywoman Teresa Sayward (R-Willsboro) said that as long as safety is not compromised, reductions are reasonable.

"I think there's going to have to be cuts, and I think there's going to have to be deep cuts."

UNION OBJECTS

The New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association has criticized the consolidation plan.

"Their plan is to overcrowd already crowded prisons in New York state," NYSCOPBA President Donn Rowe said in a statement.

Kriss said the guard-to-inmate ratio would remain well within accepted standards.

"Right now, we have dorms that have vacancies, which means that the security staff that are in those dorms supervising those inmates are supervising fewer than the standard number of inmates per dorm."

State and local NYSCOPBA representatives did not return calls seeking comment.

Sayward said it would be critical to keep dialogue open with the men and women who work inside the prisons.

"We've got some huge budget deficits, and we're going to have to talk to the people that work on the ground to make sure that they're a part of any of the changes that we make, so that we don't do things that are going to compromise safety."

Duprey said she's heartened by the fact that no one is talking about closing facilities.

"There are less prisoners, but I think there isn't any thought about closing anything."

DOCS announced last year that a statewide drop in prisoners required it to close several minimum-security prisons, including Camp Gabriels.

But after intense lobbying, the plan was later withdrawn.

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