Tupper Lake, NY, Mar 19, 2013 — The budget deal now in its final stages in Albany is likely to include the elimination of at least two state prisons.

State Senator Betty Little says she worries that a third correctional facility in Franklin County could be targeted for closure.  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 07, 2012 — The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) filed a federal lawsuit Thursday, challenging the use of isolation cells in New York state prisons.

The suit follows a report NYCLU issued in October that claimed state officials were placing far too many inmates in solitary confinement.

The suit could have big ramifications for corrections facilities here in the North Country.  Go to full article

Malone, NY, Dec 07, 2012 — The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) filed a federal lawsuit Thursday, challenging the use of isolation cells in New York state prisons.

The suit follows a report NYCLU issued in October that claimed state officials were placing far too many inmates in solitary confinement.

The suit could have big ramifications for corrections facilities here in the North Country.  Go to full article

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