Camp Pharsalia gets another reprieve
PHARSALIA – Workers at Camp Pharsalia may be able to breathe another sigh of relief this year, but the question whether that sigh will be heard next year is still unknown.
The proposal first identified by former New York State Governor George Pataki in his 2006-07 executive budget included $130 million for the demolition of the current minimum security correctional facility and construction of a 500-bed civil confinement site in its place. It estimated that the civil confinement facility, if realized, would have provided 1,000 new jobs with an annual payroll of $80 million.
With Pataki no longer in office and newly-elected Governor Eliot Spitzer composing the state’s budget, no one knew whether the camp would remain open or if the new governor would follow suit with Pataki and go ahead with the civil confinement facility plans.
Although still in the tentative stage, Spitzer’s budget includes another year of funding for Camp Pharsalia to remain up and running with a full staff in the capacity which it has always run.
“It is still in proposal status,” said Town of Pharsalia Supervisor Dennis Brown, “but it looks like we will survive at least another year.”
The facility currently employs 103 people and houses 164 inmates, and it is said by camp officials to be at full staff.
Brown also said the long-term agenda for Camp Pharsalia remains unknown, but in the short term, as long as there is funding the camp will run on a year-to-year basis. He says it has been in the works to shut down Pharsalia for years, but he does not know if the plans Pataki introduced last year still weigh in as an option.
“The prospect of housing sexual predators does not sit well with anyone here, and we don’t really know if it (the plan) is off the plate,” Brown said.
In a meeting Thursday with Senator Tom Libous, he said with the steady decrease in crime in upstate New York, the need for prisons is decreasing as well. Whether or not Spitzer will continue Pataki’s original proposal is unknown at this time.
While the Senate argues sexual predators need to be evaluated while they are incarcerated, the Assembly argues differently, saying the predator should be evaluated after leaving the prison system. Libous said he didn’t see any end in sight to the stalemate on the civil confinement issue.
The proposal first identified by former New York State Governor George Pataki in his 2006-07 executive budget included $130 million for the demolition of the current minimum security correctional facility and construction of a 500-bed civil confinement site in its place. It estimated that the civil confinement facility, if realized, would have provided 1,000 new jobs with an annual payroll of $80 million.
With Pataki no longer in office and newly-elected Governor Eliot Spitzer composing the state’s budget, no one knew whether the camp would remain open or if the new governor would follow suit with Pataki and go ahead with the civil confinement facility plans.
Although still in the tentative stage, Spitzer’s budget includes another year of funding for Camp Pharsalia to remain up and running with a full staff in the capacity which it has always run.
“It is still in proposal status,” said Town of Pharsalia Supervisor Dennis Brown, “but it looks like we will survive at least another year.”
The facility currently employs 103 people and houses 164 inmates, and it is said by camp officials to be at full staff.
Brown also said the long-term agenda for Camp Pharsalia remains unknown, but in the short term, as long as there is funding the camp will run on a year-to-year basis. He says it has been in the works to shut down Pharsalia for years, but he does not know if the plans Pataki introduced last year still weigh in as an option.
“The prospect of housing sexual predators does not sit well with anyone here, and we don’t really know if it (the plan) is off the plate,” Brown said.
In a meeting Thursday with Senator Tom Libous, he said with the steady decrease in crime in upstate New York, the need for prisons is decreasing as well. Whether or not Spitzer will continue Pataki’s original proposal is unknown at this time.
While the Senate argues sexual predators need to be evaluated while they are incarcerated, the Assembly argues differently, saying the predator should be evaluated after leaving the prison system. Libous said he didn’t see any end in sight to the stalemate on the civil confinement issue.
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