PHARSALIA – This is likely the last time the 105 employees at Camp Pharsalia will hear that the minimum security prison has one more year to stay open.
Pharsalia, along with three other prisons – Camp Gabriels, Franklin County, Camp McGregor, Saratoga County, and Hudson Correctional Facility, Columbia County – is scheduled to close in January 2009, the state Department of Correctional Services announced Friday.
The news isn’t new. Camp Pharsalia has been on the state budget’s chopping block annually for the last four years. But politicians have always been able to secure it at least one more year of funding.
“We’ve succeeded in the past,” said Senator Tom Libous (R-Binghamton), citing a strong relationship with former Gov. George Pataki. “I’m not so sure we’ll have the same success.”
Under new state corrections law created in 2005, technically there isn’t anything legislators can do this time to stop the closure since community leaders, employees, union representatives and prison administrators were notified one year in advance, said Department of Correctional Services (DOCS) spokesman Erik Kriss.
“As far as we’re concerned, this is a go,” Kriss said Friday.
A sharp decline in the prison population was cited as one of the main reasons for the closures.
DOCS also says dropping Pharsalia will result in an annual operating savings of over $8 million starting 2009-10. In all, the four closings will yield a savings of $33.5 million annually. Those savings will offset new and expensive sex offender treatment programs that will require $70 million in capital upgrades, said Kriss.
“We’re trying to do our part,” he said, explaining that DOCS has to make room in the budget for expensive mental illness and sex offender treatment programs mandated by the Senate and Assembly. “That costs a lot of money.”
It’s expected many of the camp’s officers will relocate to jobs in Oneida and Cayuga counties where there are several medium and maximum security prisons. The Department of Civil Service will assist all affected employees in getting new state jobs, said Commissioner Nancy G. Groenwegen.
Kriss did admit that the plan to close Pharsalia could change.
“A year is a long time,” said Kriss. “Right now this is our intention.”
Nearby Camp Georgetown would be the last minimum security camp of what is currently four left in the state. Kriss said its proximity to Pharsalia, roughly 16 miles, made it a “trickier” call when deciding which one to close.
The last time it appeared for sure the camp would close was in 2004. Since then, it has been a hot-button budget issue each year in Albany.
“Here we go again,” said Town of Pharsalia Supervisor Dennis Brown Monday. “This is the third or fourth year in a row we’ve heard this. Where this one will go – who knows? Eventually it’s going to stick. If the camp is to close, it will be an awful thing for our little town. Those people and those jobs are a vibrant part of our community.”
Six months before the closure, the State will provide an economic development plan outlining another possible use for Camp Pharsalia.
“Hopefully it’s not as a civil confinement facility for sex offenders,” said Brown. “We certainly weren’t in favor of that when Pataki proposed it the first time.”
In his 2006-2007 budget, Pataki had offered plans to transform Camp Pharsalia into a 500-bed civil confinement facility for sexual predators that would have created an estimated 1,000 new jobs and an annual payroll of $80 million.
That plan faded when civil confinement laws failed to pass and Pataki left office.
Under new legislation, the Department of Corrections will take on $20.6 million in annual operating costs and $70 million in two-year capital projects to provide expanded treatment and programs mandated by the State Legislature and the courts for mentally ill inmates and incarcerated sex offenders.
“We are entering a new era in New York State corrections where the trends are clear: Declining prison population but increasing treatment and services for our mentally ill inmates and sex offenders. The treatment and services mandated by the courts and the State Legislature are both necessary and appropriate,” said DOCS Commissioner Brian Fischer. “These services, along with the added emphasis on reentry, are all designed to provide for greater public safety. All such efforts are costly. To help pay for them, closing prisons - particularly those with vacant, unstaffed dormitories - is the right thing to do.”
The State Legislature’s enactment of the Sex Offender Management and Treatment Act and a landmark legal settlement with Disability Advocates Inc. created the added budget pressures, Kriss said.
Since late 1999, New York’s prison population has dropped by about 13 percent, from a peak of nearly 71,600 inmates to below 62,500.
Camp Pharsalia is currently operating at half capacity, with 258 beds and about 165 inmates.
“Assemblyman Gary Finch (R-Auburn), Senator Jim Seward (R – Oneonta), Senator Libous and I fought hard over the years to keep the Pharsalia facility open since they are an integral part of our community that provide jobs for many of our local residents,” said Assemblyman Cliff Crouch (R-Guilford) Friday. “This situation concerns me since the loss of jobs could prove detrimental to the well-being of our families. We need to analyze this decision and explore all of our options.”
Officials from the corrections officers’ union did not return messages seeking comment. Several officers contacted said they could not comment or were unavailable.