Malone, NY, Oct 04, 2012 — A report released this week by the New York Civil Liberties Union calls for major reforms to the state prison system that would reduce the number of inmates held in solitary confinement or isolation.

According to the study, roughly 8% of state prisoners are being held in special isolation cells. Roughly a third of those solitary confinement cells, known as "special housing units," are located here in the North Country.

Critics say the use of solitary confinement by prison guards has spiraled out of control.  Go to full article

Malone, NY, Oct 03, 2012 — The New York Civil Liberties Union says New York's prison system is using solitary confinement as a punishment far too often.

Last year, inmates in the state system were placed in "solitary" more than 13,000 times, according to a new study produced by the NYCLU.  Go to full article

Mineville-Witherbee, NY, Sep 28, 2012 — Two years ago, Moriah Shock Prison near Port Henry was next on the list of correctional facilities New York State wanted to close. Camp Gabriels near Saranac Lake and the Summit Shock Prison near Albany had already been shut down, and the prisons in Lyon Mountain and Ogdensburg were also on the chopping block.

But the local community and Essex County officials rallied enough support to keep Moriah open. Today, 188 men live on the spartan campus, set in a former mining facility at the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains.

Corrections officers and some inmates at Moriah Shock say the prison's program offers a fresh start to men willing to work hard. But a quarter-century after the state's "shock" program was created, the question of whether it really works remains unresolved.

[CORRECTION: Martin Horn was misidentified earlier as former commissioner of New York's Department of Corrections. He is former commissioner of New York City's Department of Correction and Department of Probation, and headed Pennsylvania's Department of Corrections.]  Go to full article

Massena, NY, Aug 23, 2012 — The village of Massena is considering reviving a 40-year-old curfew. In the past couple decades, juvenile curfews have been challenged by groups like the American Civil...  Go to full article

Rensselaer, NY, Aug 15, 2012 — A bill to strengthen the nation's cyber security laws stalled in Congress last week, but the issue remains a top priority for policy makers and business leaders around the...  Go to full article

Aug 06, 2012 — Like many other local governments in New York, responding to the bizarre behavior of people using the drugs known as "bath salts," Lewis County is considering a ban on many...  Go to full article

Malone, NY, Jun 20, 2012 — UPDATE: Chris Knight reports from Malone that a jury found Michael Scaringe guilty of having sex with a 13-year-old girl at his home in Saranac Lake in December 2009. ...  Go to full article