NY closing 2 more prisons, sparking fear of rural job loss. How many prisons have closed?

The announcement landed with a thud in two rural communities in upstate New York.

After months of deliberation, state officials had picked the latest targets in a cascade of prison closures since 2011: Sullivan Correctional Facility in the Catskills and Great Meadow Correctional Facility in the Adirondacks. Both will close in November after the inmates are moved to other facilities and workers are offered transfers to other sites.

The state could have closed as many as five, so the impact was smaller than it might have been. But that was no consolation when the news hit on Thursday. Both affected communities had relied on the prisons for decades as valued employers with hundreds of good-paying jobs in sparsely populated areas ― where such opportunities are scarce.

"I cannot overstate the impact this closure will have on the town of Fallsburg," town Supervisor Michael Bensimon said of the Sullivan Correctional closing in an interview on Friday.

He lamented that state officials had given local leaders no chance to scrutinize how they reached their decision and argue against it. And he said alerting the prison's 371 employees 90 days before the closing left them too little to time to decide whether to uproot their families, especially those with children that would have to change schools, Bensimon said.

"Those guards, those staff members are intrinsically part of our community," he said.

NY prison closures follow plunge in incarcerated population

Prison towns across the state have reacted in similar ways with each wave of closures, which began after New York repealed harsh drug sentencing rules from the 1970s and the number of offenders behind bars went into a nose dive.

Seven prisons shut their doors in 2011. Another four followed in 2014. Six more closed in 2022. The closing of the two maximum-security facilities identified on Thursday will lower the state prison total to 42, down from a peak of 71 in the 1990s.

In the meantime, the total prison population has dropped by 57% from its peak of 72,649 in 1999, and now stands at 32,465.

State officials say they considered proximity to other prisons in choosing their latest two closures. And both, it turns out, have medium-security prisons right next to them: Sullivan is paired with Woodbourne Correctional Facility, and Great Meadow is next to Washington Correctional Facility. The neighboring prisons may offer easy transfers for at least some employees.

But not nearly enough, argues Dan Stec, the state senator for the area near Lake George where Great Meadow is located. He points out the prison employs 650, but only 50 jobs are available at nearby Washington Correctional. (The state cited a lower staffing number of 559 at Great Meadow.)

"That means that nearly 600 jobs and families are likely leaving our community," Stec said in a statement, part of a barrage of angry reactions from Republican lawmakers. "This is a devastating social and economic blow to the area."

Why is NY closing prisons?

The closures are explained partly as a cost-saving measure for taxpayers. Fewer inmates means fewer total beds are needed, enabling the state to close prisons they no longer need.

As a result, the state saves $442 million a year on the 24 sites it closed from 2011 to 2022, the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision estimated last year . How much more could be saved from the two latest closures is unclear; a DOCCS spokesman didn't respond to that question on Friday.

Also driving the closures was a national problem: dire staffing shortages in prisons and jails. State officials say they're grappling with vacant positions by consolidating workers in fewer buildings.

Last round: NY is closing 6 prisons Thursday. What will it mean for local economies?

"Across the country, correctional agencies continue to struggle to meet staffing demands, and the Department is no exception, despite new and aggressive recruitment efforts," the DOCCS statement on Thursday read. "The closure of the two facilities will help ensure the safe and efficient operation of the system by utilizing staff more effectively, and operating programs in a safe manner."

The state budget approved by lawmakers in April authorized the state to close up to five prisons, as Gov. Kathy Hochul had requested. In announcing Thursday that they chose only two, state officials said others may follow "if we do not see an increase in recruitment."

The union representing state correction officers blasted the closure decision, calling it a short-sighted solution and saying it could put officers at risk. Plunging staff counts and rising inmate numbers in the last year already "has led to increased attacks on staff and created unsafe working conditions," the union said

"The State of New York needs to take bold and creative action to fix the staffing issue that is creating low morale and pushing members to their limits," said Chris Summers, president of the New York City Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association.

What will become of the NY prisons?

Once they close in November, Sullivan Correctional and Great Meadow will join a growing inventory of empty prisons on the state's hands, many situated on sprawling tracts of vacant land. Two years ago, a special advisory commission empaneled by the state issued a report recommending ways to redevelop 12 of those properties.

Those redevelopment visions have since aligned with one of Hochul's top priorities: speeding housing construction across the state.

High hopes: From prison to pot hub: How Warwick turned a closed prison into a business campus

Hochul has vowed to used state-owned properties, including closed prisons, to aid that push. And in June, she announced plans to give the former Downstate Correction Facility in Dutchess County — one of six prisons to close in 2022 — to a developer to build a giant apartment complex with up to 1,300 units on 80 acres.

No plans have been announced for selling or redeveloping Sullivan Correctional and Great Meadow. Once the two prisons close, DOCCS will work with two other state agencies — Empire State Development and the Office of General Services — to determine their future use.

Chris McKenna covers government and politics for The Journal News and USA Today Network. Reach him at cmckenna@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: NY closing 2 more prisons, sparking fear of rural job loss. How many prisons have closed?