NORWICH – Not everyone buys the reasoning behind Albany’s latest call to close Camp Pharsalia.
The state Department of Correctional Services claims it can save $8 million a year without the minimum security camp, a move that will help make room for expensive sex offender programs mandated by the Legislature.
Camp employees and union representatives, however, say the department jumped the gun Jan. 11 when it announced that Pharsalia, along with three other prisons, would likely be shut down the start of next year.
Specifically, Pharsalia guard Paul Lashway said state corrections hasn’t weighed the real impact of the closure on the local economy compared to the perceived benefits it will have on its budget.
“Maybe it does look good on a line item” in Albany, said Lashway, the camp’s union President. “But when you really look at it, it has a big impact here.”
As for reasons behind the closure – declining prison populations, higher costs and outdated uses for camps like Pharsalia – “We’re not buying that at all,” said Tom Haas, Central Region President of the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, which represents the camp’s guards.
Thursday, union officials and state legislators are holding a community rally at 12:15 p.m. in the Summit Room on the 5th floor of The Eaton Center. They’ll be offering statistics about the camp’s importance to the county economically and announcing a plan to conduct a “comprehensive” Senate investigation into the state correctional system, looking at whether or not closures are necessary or potentially harmful. Members of the public are urged to attend.
In Chenango and other counties, employees recently estimated that camp inmates do anywhere between 70,000 and 80,000 hours a year of community service and maintenance work for the Department of Environmental Conservation each year. That equal out to hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars in man hours, Lashway says.
On top of that, Lashway believes that of the 105 guards at Pharsalia, a significant number will likely move from the area if forced to transfer to facilities in Oneida and Cayuga counties.
“People will have to make up for the taxes,” he said. “They’ll get hit twice as bad.”
The solution instead of closing: “Right-size” the state’s prison system, says Haas. He argues that Pharsalia, just under two-thirds full, could take on overflow from medium security prisons that are still “double-bunked” when most populations in the system are now are “single-bunked,” referring to the number of inmates per room, per dorm.
A spokesman for the Department of Corrections said that idea doesn’t make much sense.
“It’s not an idea we think is a good one,” said Kriss, of moving higher security inmates into lower security facilities.
On Haas’ claim that there is still some over crowding, Kriss argued that it’s “just not true.” He pointed out figures claiming that medium security facilities are currently well under capacity, while maximums are near full. According to state prison figures, from 1996 through 2007, the number of inmates at medium security prisons decreased by 18 percent and the number at minimum security facilities dropped by 47 percent.
A sharp decline in the prison population overall was cited as one of the main reasons for the closures, as well as a need for cost savings to make room for $70 million in expected increases to implement new sex offender programs.
“We certainly understand concerns of the staff and community there,” said Kriss. “We will work our hardest to try and accommodate them.”
DOCS, with help of other agencies, will develop a reuse plan for the prison 6 months prior to its slated closure, he said.
Haas and others want an economic impact study offered now.
“That haven’t done that yet,” he said.
Kriss said his office would not be charged with an economic study if one is to be conducted. He did say that officials with the corrections department “will try our best” to offer the guards positions in prisons as close to home as they can. Most Pharsalia employees would likely have to commute to Oneida and Cayuga counties.
Camp Gabriels, Franklin County, Camp McGregor, Saratoga County, and Hudson Correctional Facility, Columbia County will also be closed, according to the Jan. 11 announcement.
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 have to shift our resources,” he added.
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.