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February 9, 2010

Union: Prison closures "absolutely devastating"

<img src="/homepage/images_image_276103054" alt="&#149;">&nbsp;&nbsp;DOCS maintains that safety concerns aren&#039;t warranted

By ANDREA VanVALKENBURG

PLATTSBURGH — Testifying before the State Legislature this week, the correction-officer union president called the next round of possible prison closures "absolutely devastating."

New York State Corrections Officer and Police Benevolent Association President Donn Rowe spoke at a hearing Monday to address his concerns with Gov. David Paterson's latest plan to close four more facilities, including Lyon Mountain in Clinton County and Moriah Shock Incarceration in Essex County.

SAFETY ISSUES
During his testimony, Rowe said the plan places not only officers but the general public in "serious jeopardy."

"While the legislature is being forced to make difficult choices on the budget during these challenging times, keeping our communities safe and protecting good-paying jobs must be top priorities," he said.

"DOCS has yet again refused to look internally at their own bloated bureaucracy for cuts and decided to balance their budget on the backs of the men and women who serve as our front lines of protection for a prison system that remains overcrowded and understaffed."

Rowe has repeatedly raised concerns that prisons are still overcrowded in terms of inmates living in double-bunked cells originally built to house a single inmate.

He said New York prisons are still operating at 102-percent capacity, with maximum-security facilities at 122-percent capacity.

The four facilities slated to close are minimum- and medium-security prisons.

In a news release, Rowe said "any honest and thorough review of DOCS practices should have resulted in a decision to reduce spending on the administrative level, "where there is little to no direct impact on the security function of New York's prisons," not the front lines of public safety and security.

ECONOMIC IMPACT
And the economic impact of the closures, he said, will be lasting.

"In every single municipality where these facilities reside, they serve as one of the largest — if not the largest — employers in the area.

"Their longtime presence in these communities has helped to spawn economic growth in areas that have been and continue to be incredibly hard hit by these challenging economic times.

"The closures of these facilities would be absolutely devastating to these areas."

'UNDER CAPACITY'
The department has said the closures are being made in light of a declining inmate population and say the capacity figures Rowe cited do not accurately reflect the current housing situation.

Department spokesperson Erik Kriss said the capacity statistics are based solely on the number of inmates compared to the number of general beds, without taking into account the many inmates who are out on work release, hospitalized or in court and prisoners in special housing.

"We maintain that we're quite under capacity," Kriss said, adding that most double-bunk cells were designed to house two inmates.

He said 4,600 vacancies exist in both general confinement and restrictive beds.

"That's why we can close three more (prisons) and part of another and still have room left over."

Both staff and inmates at the two local prisons are expected to be moved to facilities with vacancies, Kriss said, so no layoffs are expected.

In written testimony submitted to fiscal committees Monday, DOCS Commissioner Brian Fischer said that despite NYSCOPBA's assertions, "data shows our prisons are as safe as they have ever been."

He said the number of inmate assaults continue to decline even after the last round of closures, when some predicted a spike in violence.

Kriss said "every area of spending in DOCS would go down under the governor's proposed budget, including administration."

Kriss said, percentage wise, administrative areas take a bigger hit than security.

Fischer told the committee he has also reduced Central Office positions "at more than triple the rate of correction-officer positions."

'FIGHT WITH FACTS'
Moriah Town Supervisor Thomas Scozzafava said he'll be meeting with Paterson later this week to discuss the Moriah Shock closure.

"I feel we can fight this with facts. We're all going to work to try to keep this facility open."

Moriah Shock Incarceration Correctional Facility in Mineville opened in 1987.

"In 1986, we started lobbying to get a shock camp here, to help our economically depressed area," Scozzafava said. "That's why it was placed here. Now we have to lobby again to keep it open."

The governor has agreed to meet with Scozzafava and Essex County Board of Supervisors Chair Randy Douglas (D-Jay) during the New York State Association of Counties annual conference in Albany this week.

At its recent meeting, the Elizabethtown-Lewis Chamber of Commerce drafted a letter to Paterson supporting efforts to keep Moriah Shock open. It cited the many local employees and businesses that depend on the facility, as well as the help the inmates provide in the community.

Adirondack Community Action Program Director Alan Jones estimates the efforts of the inmate work crews for his agency add up to about $20,000 annually.

"The economic impact of the closing in community will be severe," the chamber letter says.

It alludes to losses of sales taxes and property taxes if the employees have to move and talks about how instrumental the work crews have been in cleaning and maintaining the integrity of the forests, rivers and municipal parks.

LOOKING AHEAD
Dannemora Town Supervisor Americo "Ves" Pivetta has strongly advocated against closing the Lyon Mountain facility.

"What happens next year if they decided they need other cuts? You have to think of the future," Pivetta said Monday.

"We're taking all these hits, and we have to start hitting back."

Pivetta hosted a 200-person rally last Thursday against the governor's plan.

He said Monday that he was disappointed that more business representatives didn't attend the rally and noted that the facility not only helps the tax base but the booming business of correction officer spending.

— Staff Writers Lohr McKinstry and Alvin Reiner contributed to this report.

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