Southport Correctional Facility to Close in Spring 2022

ALBANY, NY (WENY) -- The New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision will close six prisons in 2022, including Southport Correctional Facility in Chemung County.

According to a statement to WENY News from DOCCS, the state budget voted on and approved by the legislature authorized the governor to close state prisons. The measure is in response to a declining prison population, and to save taxpayer dollars. 

The state correctional system reviewed operations at its 50 correctional facilities, and identified the following six for closure: Ogdensburg Correctional Facility, Moriah Shock Incarceration Facility, Willard Drug Treatment Campus, Southport Correctional Facility, Downstate Correctional Facility and Rochester Correctional Facility. 

Southport Correctional is a maximum security prison, with a current staff of 405, and 286 inmates. The prison has an inmate capacity of 441. The prisons will close on March 10th, 2022. 

The full statement from DOCCS is below. WENY News has also reached out to the New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association, or NYSCOPBA, for a response. 

Stick with WENY News for updates on this developing story.

The Fiscal Year 2021-22 New York State budget that was voted on and approved by the Legislature authorized the Governor to close state prisons as the incarcerated population continues to decline and as a fiscally prudent and safe way to save taxpayer dollars.

New York State continues to be at the forefront of some of the nation’s most progressive criminal justice reforms by spearheading smart and fair policies that have resulted in a drastic decline in the incarcerated population.

As of November 8, 2021, the total incarcerated population in state correctional facilities is 31,469. This represents both a total reduction in excess of 12,700 individuals since January 1, 2020, and the lowest total incarcerated population in New York State prisons since 1984. This is more than a 56% decline in population since the Department’s high of 72,773 in 1999, with New York leading the nation with the lowest imprisonment rate of any large state.

DOCCS carefully reviewed the operations at its 50 correctional facilities for possible closure. This review was based on a variety of factors, including physical infrastructure, program offerings, facility security level, specialized medical and mental health services, proximity of other facilities in the area to minimize the impact to staff, potential re-use options and areas of the state where prior closures have occurred in order to minimize the impact to communities. Consideration of the impact of the recently enacted HALT and Less Is More legislation was also weighed.

DOCCS 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 as a result of the formal Civil Service process that is followed with the closure of a correctional facility. DOCCS does not anticipate any layoffs due to these closures.

DOCCS will also work cooperatively with the Office of General Services and Empire State Development to facilitate the re-use of the closed facilities. Upon closure, DOCCS will begin the decommission process in order to protect the State assets for potential re-use.

As a result of this authorization, the Department’s thorough review of its facilities, and the dramatic decline in population it has been determined that six correctional facilities can be safely closed. The closure process will begin immediately. No layoffs are anticipated and the end result will be a savings of approximately $142 million for taxpayers.

Therefore on March 10, 2022, at the close of business, the following facilities will officially close: Ogdensburg Correctional Facility, Moriah Shock Incarceration Correctional Facility, Willard Drug Treatment Campus, Southport Correctional Facility, Downstate Correctional Facility and Rochester Correctional Facility.

Ogdensburg Correctional Facility (St. Lawrence County), a medium security institution, has a current staff of 268, with 158 incarcerated individuals and a capacity of 557.

Moriah Shock Incarceration Correctional Facility (Essex County), a minimum security Shock institution, has a current staff of 107, with 74 incarcerated individuals and a capacity of 300.

The Willard Drug Treatment Campus (Seneca County), a medium security institution, has a current staff of 329, with 168 incarcerated individuals and a capacity of 664. 

Southport Correctional Facility (Chemung County), a maximum security institution, has a current staff of 405, with 286 incarcerated individuals and a capacity of 441. 

Downstate Correctional Facility (Dutchess County), a maximum security institution, has a current staff of 644, with 688 incarcerated individuals and a capacity of 1,221.

Rochester Correctional Facility (Monroe County), a minimum security work release institution, has a current staff of 26, with 46 incarcerated individuals and a capacity of 70.

?We will be able to safely absorb the incarcerated population into vacant beds available at other institutions and relocate the Drug Treatment Campus functions to Lakeview Shock Incarceration Correctional Facility (Chautauqua County), the work release program at Rochester will be moved to Orleans Correctional Facility (Orleans County), and Elmira Correctional Facility (Chemung County) will expand its reception footprint to absorb the incoming who would have first gone to Downstate Correctional Facility.  ?

WENY News received a statement from NYSCOPA President Michael Powers, who represents 21,000 members.  His statement is below:

“If people have been paying attention to the past decade of poor decisions made by our elected leaders in Albany, today’s news shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone. The State’s progressive polices are costly and need to be funded somehow. Sadly it’s at the expense of the hard working men and women of NYSCOPBA. The numbers tell the real story; despite closing over two dozen facilities the past 10 years, violent attacks on our members have doubled and yet nothing is being done to address it. Where is the reinvestment in the facilities to make these prisons safer working environments? My heart goes out to all of the individuals whose lives have been severely impacted by this announcement and know that our organization will hold the department accountable every step of the way. At some point, the State needs to realize that these choices are more than just buildings and tax-saving measures, these are life-altering decisions that upend lives and destroy communities.” - Michael Powers, NYSCOPBA President

WENY News reached out to Chemung County Executive Chris Moss for his reaction. He says that he understands why the facility was chosen to be closed, but "what they forget is that if its six facilities, they should be meeting with all those municipalities, this is going to be the economic impact, this is how many people are displaced, this is what we are looking at for re-purposing. None of that was done."

State Senator Tom O'Mara (R) released a statement. You can read his statement below.

"Governor Hochul’s abruptly announced decision to close the Southport Correctional Facility comes as a great shock to this community and region. It arrived with no advance warning and, obviously, no meaningful local input or outreach to local officials or the correctional officers union. The surprising decision impacts hundreds of local correctional officers and prison staff, which means hundreds of local families and a devastating toll on already hard-hit local economies. It shows a disregard for Upstate New York’s communities and simply turns a blind eye to an increasingly violent crime wave throughout this state, as well as a currently explosive and dangerous prison environment that threatens correctional officers and prison staff. Governor Hochul needs to be transparent about its decision to close Southport. What factors justify closing a ‘supermax’ facility like Southport? What will it mean for public safety across this state? What measures are being considered for the future of the facility itself, but most importantly for the employees and their families, and the community at large? There are plenty of unanswered questions and we will immediately be reaching out to the Hochul administration to get answers. The bottom line is that Governor Hochul should be focused on spreading out the inmate population, decreasing inmate density, and protecting the men and women working in our prisons.

“Despite the recent trend of lowering prison population, we have not seen a correlating reduction of violence within the prisons. We read weekly of violent assaults by inmates on staff and other inmates occurring at Elmira Correctional Facility. We need to focus on safer prisons. The lower prison population should be capitalized on to spread inmates out for greater safety within the system as a whole."

"Governor Hochul has, so far, surprisingly and wrongly continued the radical and politically motivated actions of the former Cuomo administration and the Legislature’s one-party-control, downstate Democrat supermajorities to empty state prisons at any cost, especially the cost of public safety and security. Over the past several years up to now, we have seen action after action, from the disastrous bail reform to a radically lenient Parole Board, advancing a pro-criminal mentality over public safety and security and victims’ rights. It has emboldened this society’s criminal element."

New York State Assemblyman Phil Palmesano (R), who serves the 132nd district, also released a statement slamming the decision. His statement below:

“Gov. Hochul announced the closure of six additional state Correctional Facilities, including Southport Correctional Facility in Chemung County and the Willard Drug Treatment Campus in Seneca County, by March 10, 2022. Two of the six facilities are considered maximum security, which harbor the most dangerous criminals in New York state. The closing of Downstate, Ogdensburg, Moriah Shock and Rochester, along with Southport and Willard, will negatively affect over 1,300 correctional officers and sergeants who are projected to be displaced, in addition to the negative impact these closures will have on local communities. This is a continuation of the administration’s fast-track state prison closures with only 90-days’ notice. This is in blatant disregard to a 2005 state law that requires 12-months’ notice for a prison closure. The fast-track prison closure process just adds insult to injury to the employees, families and local communities impacted by these closures.  Unfortunately, Gov. Hochul has chosen to follow in the footsteps of former Gov. Cuomo, whose dangerous policies and prison closures put correctional officers in harm’s way for years.

 “Prison closures are already devastating to the employees, families and local communities, but fast-tracking these closures is simply cruel and shows a complete lack of respect for the brave men and women who have dedicated their lives to work a very dangerous job to keep us safe. Although the administration always likes to claim employees will not lose their jobs, 90 days is clearly not enough time for families to uproot their lives, travel hours away for work and find new homes and new schools for their kids. These personal hardships are just compounded many times over by the destructive impact these closures have on the economic well-being of local communities.

“Gov. Hochul is ignoring the dangerous, “powder-keg” environment created by these closures, policies and actions. The fact of the matter is violence, drug use and gang activity continues to escalate in our prisons. Gov. Hochul has failed to provide the necessary tools and resources to curtail the violence and stop drugs from getting into our correctional facilities. She continues to limit and eliminate important disciplinary tools, like restricting the use of special housing units to separate violent and dangerous inmates from other inmates, to help keep other inmates safe, while also helping to keep our correctional officers a little bit safer while performing their already-dangerous jobs. It's common knowledge that drugs in our prisons are a major problem which leads to more violence. It's also common knowledge that the drugs get into our prisons through the mail and packages or inmate visitation from the outside. Even knowing these facts, the previous administration canceled and Gov. Hochul has still not instituted a secure vendor package program to screen mailed packages and has refused to deploy K-9 drug dogs at each facility to better screen inmate visitors. 

“Jamming more and more inmates into fewer facilities has already proven to be a dangerous practice with the dramatic rise in assaults we’ve seen over the past five years. In addition, how does forcing more inmates into less space support social distancing and protect staff and inmates during COVID-19?

“Gov. Hochul will say we have fewer inmates, and therefore, we need to close more prisons. However, the administration refuses to answer the question, ‘how, even with fewer inmates, do dangerous violence and assaults inside our correctional facilities continue to rise?’ Prison closures are not the answer. It will further exacerbate the staggering rise of inmate-on-staff assaults, which are up 38% (from 759 to 1047) over the past five years. Inmate-on-inmate assaults have reached more than 1,000 per year, every year, over the past 5 years, up 31.6% (from 915 to 1204) since 2015. Unfortunately, Gov. Hochul’s criminal justice policies are no different than her predecessor’s, in favor of criminals and inmates at the expense of law enforcement officials, crime victims and public safety. This is not just a terrible idea. It’s a dangerous idea.

“This announcement of the six prison closures comes just before the holiday season, creating additional stress and uncertainty for our brave correctional officers, staff and their families. This is unacceptable and dangerous and I will continue to speak out against the governor’s misguided prison closures and failed criminal justice policies.

“Let me be clear, the continued increase in violence and assaults these additional prison closures will create, now falls squarely on Gov. Hochul’s doorstep.”