Hudson Valley Prison to Shut Down in 90 Days

The news broke today that a maximum security prison here in the Hudson Valley will be decommissioned soon. What happens to the jobs and the inmates who are housed there?

Will we start seeing more alternatives to incarnation being pushed for criminal offenders in New York State?

Many New Yorkers were shocked today to suddenly hear that the Hochul Administration will be permanently decommissioning six prisons throughout the state of New York. The Hudson Valley region has one on the list.

According to News 10, Ogdensburg, Moriah Shock, Rochester, Southport, Willard and Downstate Correctional Facility in Fishkill, New York will close their doors by the second week of March. News 10 reports that the prison in Dutchess County alone employs over 600 male inmates and employs over 600 staff members as well. They also report that a variety of factors were taken into consideration before the decision to close these facilities down was finally made.

Downstate Correctional was built in 1979 currently sits on 116 Red School House Road in Fishkill and will soon be unoccupied.

The incarcerated people currently serving at these facilities will be transferred to another correctional facility.

According to the Press Republican, a Republican leader believes these closures are an attack on the state's criminal justice system. Are they right?

New York State's incarceration rate seems to have been trending downward since the early 2000's. Does that mean we're safe? Crime statistics say otherwise. Maybe criminals just aren't serving time.

According to Criminal Justice NY, New York saw an almost 2% jump in both violent and property crime between 2019 and 2020.