Paterson Grants Reprieve to 4 Upstate Prisons

By REUVEN BLAU

While the state budget had yet to be finalized as this newspaper went to press April 7, Governor Paterson last week highlighted additional funding for several "Public Protection" initiatives, including keeping open four upstate prisons slated for closing.

GOVERNOR PATERSON: Pardons Spitzer targets.

The unions representing officers and civilian workers in the prisons hailed the move, which was supported by many Republican State Senators.

Union Rally Made Case

The New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association and the Public Employees Federation staged a rally March 31 on the steps of the State Capital urging lawmakers to restore funding for the prisons. The unions pointed out that their members play large economic roles in the small towns where they are based.

Former Governor Spitzer had proposed closing Camp Pharsalia in Chenango County, Camp McGregor in Saratoga County, Camp Gabriels in Franklin County and Hudson Correctional Facility in Columbia County.

A prison watchdog group, however, was upset that Governor Paterson moved away from the plan, which was driven by the decreasing number of inmates in those facilities.

"This is business as usual in the worst sense," Bob Gangi, executive director of the Correctional Association, told the Daily News.

He acknowledged that the prisons provide jobs for upstate communities where work is scarce. "But if the Legislature continues to keep them open - in spite of sound evidence that they are not needed - then there is that much less money to spend on more-deserving programs, including a higher welfare grant," the association said in a press release.

Redeploying Troopers

Governor Paterson's budget also calls for redeploying more than 100 State Troopers to upstate regions to assist in local crime-fighting plans. According to the budget bills, the Division of State Police will redeploy investigators and troopers from video-lottery facilities and other assignments to help officers in Operation Impact communities, which encompass the 17 counties where 80 percent of state crime committed outside New York City occurs.

The Public Protection bills also increase funding for the NY Alert Emergency Notification System by $5.4 million, re-entry services for offenders returning to communities to prevent recidivism by $3.5 million, probation aid by $3 million, the Witness Protection Program by $200,000, inmate mental health by $42 million, and sex-offender management by $8 million.

Governor Paterson also noted that the budget includes $3.1 million for alternatives to incarceration programs such as drug and alcohol treatment centers. In addition, the budget increases mandatory surcharges on felonies and misdemeanors, raises the fee to access a criminal history record by $3 to $55, and increases the crime victim assistance fee by $5 to $25.

Those fees have remained steady since 2003, and are projected to yield $7 million in revenue this year, according to the Governor's Office.