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

Chateaugay, NY, Mar 21, 2013 — The state correctional facility in Chateaugay won't be closed under a budget deal being finalized in Albany.

That's according to Dan Macentee, spokesman for state Senator Betty Little.

According to Macentee, Little was told late Tuesday that "Chateaugay [closure] would not be included in the budget."

"The Democrat's proposal" to mothball the facility and spare a downstate prison "has caused a lot of concern in the community," Macentee added.

"I can understand the angst in the community."  Go to full article

Chateaugay, NY, Mar 21, 2013 — Update 10 am: The state correctional facility in Chateaugay won't be closed under a budget deal being finalized in Albany. That's according to Dan Macentee, spokesman for state Senator Betty Little. Latest details of this breaking story.



It remains unclear this morning whether the budget deal now being finalized in Albany will affect a North Country prison.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders unveiled a broad outline of the spending plan last night, without offering specifics.

Democratic lawmakers in the state Senate and Assembly have proposed cutting funding for the state correctional facility in Chateaugay in northern Franklin County.

That differs from Cuomo's executive budget proposal, which targeted prisons in Manhattan and in Dutchess County.  Go to full article

Washington, DC, Mar 01, 2013 — North Country Congressman Bill Owens says the impact of cuts at the federal prison in Ray Brook is on his mind. He says officials there will have some discretion as far as where to cut. "I'm counting on management in those circumstances," says Owens, "to make sure that they do their furloughing in such a way that they do manage this for the safety of the officers and obviously the prisoners."

Owens held a telephone press conference yesterday afternoon to discuss the impacts of the across-the-board federal cuts known as the sequester. The Democrat says the standoff in Washington may only change if the public feels some pain.  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

Albany, NY, Jan 05, 2012 — Governor Andrew Cuomo spoke only briefly about the state's correctional system during his speech yesterday. Last year, his administration mothballed seven prisons, none of them in the North Country. Cuomo called that an important accomplishment. "We closed 3800 prison beds," he said, "because we finally realized prison operation is not economic development."

But the governor didn't call for any further prisons to be closed. After the speech, state Senator Betty Little of Queensbury said she thinks further prisons closures are off the table for now. That's good news for North Country prison towns from Moriah to Ogdensburg that had faced calls for prison downsizing.  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

Aug 10, 2011 — Two years after New York State prison officials closed Camp Gabriels, a Mohawk writer and activist wants to reopen the Adirondack facility as an education center and accredited campus with ties to Syracuse University.

Doug George announced last week at a meeting in Ticonderoga that he is working with Native American leaders, state officials and with other educators to develop the program. He hopes to attract students interested in learning about Native culture, language and heritage.

As Brian Mann reports, the proposal has been on the drawing board for more than a year. But key questions remain.  Go to full article