The prison system needs to be right-sized the right way

 New York state recently announced more upstate prison closures, this time in Washington and Sullivan counties. Under authority tucked into the secretive state budget, the closures can happen on only a few months notice with zero planning. This is a great example of the right decision being done the wrong way. 

To be clear, the right-sizing of the prison system i slong overdue. Prison population in the state is declining, especially since the abolition of draconian drug laws. Crime rates in NYS have been consistently declining for 30 years and 1/3 of what they were in 1990 in all categories.

But the way the closures are being undertaken is irresponsible and inhumane.

The closures cause many job losses and much economic carnage in small communities. The fact that the closures are happening with zero concern for replacing the jobs and economic impact just adds to the resentment and loathing of state government that permeates across upstate New York. And not just by MAGA Republicans.  The unexpectedly close re-election of Governor Hochul illustrates this. 

Mount McGregor in Saratoga County was closed a decade ago this week. It remains fallow and untouched, except by weeds. It is adjacent to a state historic site; the prison grounds serve as overflow parking for the historic site. The prison land continues to not provide jobs or property taxes to the town of Wilton. It continues to waste land that is not being developed either by the state or by a private party that could provide property taxes and jobs or even much needed housing. And worst of all, the state has shown zero interest in changing this reality. 

Closed prisons in Moriah and Gabriels in Essex and Franklin Counties represent the same straight jacket on those towns. 

The recently announced closure of prisons in Washington and Sullivan counties will no doubt have the same catastrophic effect on already economic depressed areas.

The prison system needs to be right-sized but it can and must be done in a responsible, humane way.

The legislature should require the state to publish a detailed plan for site development, including a specific timeline with the announcement of any prison closure. Critically, that legislation should also mandate both transparency and oversight to ensure the plan is actually enacted, a typically failing of state plans. As well as some kind of compensation to the towns if the plan is not enacted or delayed.

The prison-industrial complex was never sustainable. It was always a substitute for real economic development. But now that the state is dismantling it, it has the moral obligation come up with alternatives for affected towns, most of whom were economically trouble even with the stable, middle-class prison jobs. 

At the very least, it should stop being a barrier - both metaphorically and physically - to those alternatives.

The prison-industrial complex was a bargain between the state and rural New York. The state said "We'll give you decent jobs if you give us free land." If the state is going to remove the jobs, it should at least give back the land.

This would go some way to rebuilding the trust in so much of rural New York that feels betrayed and abandoned.