A few minutes ago, the Register-Star published the news about prison closings: "6 prisons to close after DOCCS, union meet." Alas, the Hudson Correctional Facility is not one of them. The prisons that will be closing in early 2022 are:
- Downstate Correctional, Fishkill, Dutchess County
- Ogdensburg Correctional, St. Lawrence County
- Southport Correctional Pine City, Chemung County
- Rochester Correctional, Monroe County
- Willard Drug Treatment Campus, Seneca County
- Moriah Shock Incarceration Correctional Facility, Mineville, Essex County
While I'm certainly glad to see prisons close as we evolve our thinking around criminal justice and rehabilitation, it's probably for the best that Hudson's facility remain open, at least for now.
ReplyDeleteHudson is going to need serious charter reform in order to put some adults in the room who can guide its development in a reasoned and equitable manner. All the mayor and current council structure have provided is half-baked idealism, handouts to wealthy developers, cronyism, and a City attorney who remains at their post in spite of the fact they are in the pocket of a company preparing litigation against Hudson. (As of right now, we can't even locate the $15,000 stage Lil Deb's and the Tourism Board finagled from the Hudson taxpayers. (We should be taking a much closer look at those projects.)
Turning over a significant property to the City is likely to end in disaster for the Hudson community unless they have leaders that are prepared to take on the challenge of developing it correctly.
There have been rumors of the prison closing for the 30 years that I've been around here. I wonder if there has been an effort to re-imagine the property as something else? Seems like the City ought to be pro-active in creating a vision.
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