ulster county community corrections program

And 90 days is not a lot of time in which to absorb it.A racial discrimination lawsuit has been reopened by the U.S.

It’s also a lost career opportunity for young people coming out of school who may want to follow the footsteps of a prior generation. And it’s not just the 644 currently employed. Therein lies the ripple effect of the closure. Prison workers shop in local stores, send their kids to local schools, eat in local restaurants and, of course, pay local taxes. Few, if any, will see no disruption to their lives in the Hudson Valley. Some may even opt for voluntarily retirement. Some may end up working for other state agencies. In other words, some may find their way to Shawangunk, Wallkill or other state-run facilities. The Willard Drug Treatment Campus will be relocated to Chautauqua County the work release program at Rochester will move to Orleans County and the Elmira Correctional Facility in Chemung County will absorb prisoners who would have gone to Downstate, which serves as a reception facility for inmates entering the state system.Īs for the 644 downstate employees, the state is promising no layoffs, but that it will “work closely with the various bargaining units to provide staff with opportunities for priority placement via voluntary transfers, as well as priority employment at other facilities or other state agencies.” The plan calls for Downstate’s Maximum Security prisoners to be relocated to empty cells throughout the state. The 31,469 people incarcerated by the state is the lowest number since 1984, the DOCCS added. He has similar congressional aspirations for the district that includes Orange County.ĭownstate currently has 690 prisoners, roughly half its capacity, according to the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS), which notes that the state’s prison population has declined by nearly 30 percent since January 2020 and by 57 percent since 1999. The decision also prompted a statement of condemnation from Assemblyman Colin J. Molinaro, a onetime gubernatorial candidate, recently announced plans to run for Congress next year in New York’s 19th District, which includes Dutchess and Ulster Counties. “There has been no coordination between the Governor’s Office and Dutchess County on the closure of this large facility, nor a coordinated plan for the future use of the parcel and the hundreds of workers who will be affected,” Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro told the Westchester Business Journal. The move apparently caught local officials by surprise. The largest of prisons to close will be the Downstate Correctional Facility in Fishkill. Kathy Hochul’s announcement last week of her plans to close six state prisons in March, though hailed as a cost-saving measure of $142 million per year, is not drawing much praise in the Hudson Valley.

Ulster county community corrections program