May 15, 2013 — State officials have set a price tag on the mothballed prison in Clinton County and it looks like a bargain.

The Office of General Services says it will accept a minimum bid for the Lyon Mountain Correctional Facility of just $140,000.

That includes more than 27 acres of land and 23 buildings.  Go to full article

May 14, 2013 — Locking people up and keeping them behind bars is one of the North Country's biggest industries. There are more than twenty jails and prison facilities scattered across our rural region. Corrections and law enforcement agencies provide high-paying jobs from Ogdensburg to Glens Falls.

But the prison industry isn't something we talk about very often. The North Country's Regional Economic Development plan talks about renewable energy and trains and farms and government. But it doesn't even mention prisons -- not once.

Earlier this month, a student group at SUNY Plattsburgh invited community members, faculty and activists to meet and talk about mass incarceration and how it affects communities.  Go to full article

Lyon Mountain, NY, May 02, 2013 — What happens to prisons and correctional facilities when there aren't enough inmates to fill the jail cells?

That's the dilemma facing nearly a dozen communities in upstate New York. After a massive prison construction boom that continued for nearly four decades, the state has seen its inmate population decline steadily in recent years. The change follows a sharp decline in crime rates and changes to sentencing guidelines that mean fewer nonviolent drug offenders spending years behind bars.

Now a state agency called Empire State Development is struggling to auction off eleven former prisons and juvenile justice centers, including two facilities now for sale here in the North Country.

But many rural communities fear that another economic engine is dying with nothing to replace it.  Go to full article

Saranac Lake, NY, Apr 16, 2013 — New York state officials say the state's prison population is expected to drop again this year by nearly 800 inmates.

The Department of Corrections will close two more prisons this year, bringing to a total of nine the number of correctional facilities shut down since 2011.

Inmate populations in New York have been edging downward for more than a decade. But a report from the Justice Department suggests that for the first time in decades, fewer Americans nationwide are being sent to prison.

Surveys of state and Federal prisons nationwide show the number of inmates actually declined over the last three years - the first downward trend in a generation.  Go to full article

Ray Brook, NY, Mar 01, 2013 — The sequester is upon us and Federal workers at facilities are bracing for across-the-board cuts that begin phasing in tomorrow. Tensions are particularly high in the country's Federal prison system.

Two different congressional reports released in the last year found that inmate overcrowding at Federal prisons like the one in Ray Brook, near Saranac Lake,
has already made it difficult for guards to maintain safety behind bars.

Attorney General Eric Holder says furloughing more corrections officers could make safety problems even worse.  Go to full article

New York, NY, Jan 25, 2013 — Imagine for a moment the dumbest thing you've ever done in your life. The worst mistake, the biggest lapse in judgment. Now imagine that that one blunder cost you fifteen years of your life.

This week, we're launching our Prison Time Media Project, exploring the legacy of the Rockefeller drug laws.

The controversial sentencing rules created by Governor Nelson Rockefeller 40 years ago sent tens of thousands of men and women to prison, with many serving 15 to 25 years behind bars.

George Prendes was one of those people.  Go to full article

Jan 24, 2013 — Forty years ago this month, New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller launched his campaign for what came to be known as the Rockefeller drug laws.

Rockefeller demanded tough prison sentences, even for low-level drug dealers and addicts. It was an idea that quickly spread, influencing state and Federal law across the US.

In the decades since, the nation's prison population has grown seven-fold -- with more than two million men and women now behind bars.

Over the next year, North Country Public Radio will be looking at ways the Rockefeller laws changed America -- from their impact on race relations to the growth of a booming prison industry here in the North Country.

We're calling it the Prison Time Radio Project. We start our series by going back to the beginning, when Americans were demanding solutions to a heroin epidemic that was scarring urban neighborhoods.  Go to full article

Albany, NY, Jan 23, 2013 — Governor Andrew Cuomo says New York's state prison system needs to shrink again. In his speech Tuesday, Cuomo unveiled plans to eliminate two downstate correctional facilities.

The move spares prisons and prison jobs here in the North Country, at least for the time being.

But the move comes as part of a continuing shift in the state's criminal justice policy that has meant new uncertainty for prison workers.  Go to full article

Malone, NY, Dec 05, 2011 — A state Supreme Court judge issued a ruling late Friday that could dramatically reshape North Country political boundaries. The decision affects the way prison inmates are counted as state Assembly and Senate districts are drawn up.

In that process, some communities, including Malone, Ogdensburg and Watertown, will lose a significant portion of their population. Brian Mann has our story.  Go to full article

Ray Brook, NY, Oct 06, 2011 — Attorneys were in court this week in Albany, arguing a case that could dramatically reshape the way North Country legislative districts are redrawn. A new state law requires that inmates be counted in their home communities -- the places they last lived before being sent to prison.

But that would shift a lot of people back to downstate Democratic districts, stripping population from districts held by North Country lawmakers like Betty Little from Queensbury and Patty Ritchie from St. Lawrence County. Republicans are hoping to overturn the law and as Brian Mann reports, the case could be settled in the next two months.  Go to full article