BY JIMMY LAWTON

North Country This Week

The New York State budget gives Gov. Andrew Cuomo the power to close as many prisons as he chooses without significant notice, according to Assemblyman Mark Walczyk, R-Watertown.

Prison closures have become an annual ritual in New York State, with support from many across the state but strong opposition from corrections officers and communities that rely on the state-funded facilities for jobs.

St. Lawrence County houses three prisons. Two are in Ogdensburg and one is in Gouverneur.

Assemblyman Walczyk says the decision to allow the governor total control over the decision was irresponsible with an impeachment investigation underway.

He pointed to last year’s closure of a Watertown prison in his district that was announced just four days before Christmas.

Walczyk says that a law in the early 2000’s set parameters for prison closures, which included giving adequate notice to communities, establishing a plan so that families and communities would have time to adjust.

However, in recent years the notice of such closure has come without warning and little time prepare communities.

“It’s not fair to families or the hard working men and women at these facilities,” he said.

Which prisons and how many will be on the chopping block this year remains unknown, but it wasn’t so long ago that one of Ogdensburg’s prisons was slated for closure.

In 2010 Governor David A. Paterson planned to close Ogdensburg Correctional Facility.

The announcement prompted a massive community-wide effort to halt the effort led by then-St. Lawrence Newspapers Publisher Chuck Kelly, who died in 2018.

Kelly led a task force and worked closely with state representatives to keep the prison open. Events were held across the county and in Albany with calls to save the prison.

When Andrew M. Cuomo made his initial run for the governor’s seat he did so with a promise that Ogdensburg’s prisons would remain open as long as he was in office, a promise he’s kept so far.

At the time, the task force argued that the Ogdensburg prisons operated far more efficiently than many other state prisons and pointed out how important the prisons are to the local economy.

Currently, the state facilities are among the biggest employers in the county.

Walczyk says he has no idea which prisons might be targeted this time around, but he says it wouldn’t make much sense to close one in the north country.

“Our facilities are some of the least expensive to run in the state. It would be stupid for the state to choose North Country prisons over prisons in other parts of the state,” he said.

Despite Walczyk’s assertion, the state did just that last year.

On Dec. 21 of 2020 the State Department of Corrections said it would close Watertown Correctional Facility on March 30, 2021. It is now permanently closed.

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