Breaking: Ogdensburg, Moriah Shock and Lyon Mountain prisons targeted for closure; 480 jobs at stake

State officials are proposing to close three more North Country prison, under the budget-cutting plan being laid out today by Governor David Paterson.

They include the Ogdensburg Correctional Facility in St. Lawrence County, Lyon Mountain Correctional Facility in Clinton County, the Moriah Shock camp in Essex County.

Roughly 480 high-paying government jobs are at stake.

“Closing an entire facility in an already poor area that’s already reeling and facing devastation from other industries that are closing is just going to continue to force the North Country and St. Lawrence COunty’s economy down,” said Ogdensburg Mayor Bill Nelson.

“It is proposed to close [the facilities] next year,” Sen. Betty Little’s spokesman Dan Mac Entee told North Country Public Radio.

“Obviously the Senator is very concerned. It’s not altogether surprising that upstate facilities are once again targeted for closure. Given the concentration of power downstate it’s hard to fight back against something like that.”

State officials will also target part of one other correctional facility in Wayne County, but the North Country clearly faces the brunt of the closures.

Here are details provided by New York state’s Department of Correctional Services:

Combined, the closures are expected to save $3 million in operating costs in 2010-11 and $45.8 million in 2011-12, plus $14.1 million over the next five years by avoiding needed capital construction projects. Those savings will help cover the cost of the enhanced mental health and sex offender programs and help DOCS manage the state prison system within its budget.

Lyon Mountain (91 employees as of 12/31/09; 162 general confinement beds; 135 inmates as of 12/31/09), savings of $7.2 million in annual operating costs, plus $950,000 in capital savings by avoiding needed capital projects over the next three years, including replacing an existing retaining wall ($150,000) in 2010-11, repairing and repointing buildings 2 and 5 ($500,000) and installing metal siding in building 7 ($100,000) in 2011-12, and constructing a storage building ($200,000) in 2012-13.

Ogdensburg (287 employees as of 12/31/09; 612 beds – only 490 in staffed housing units; 474 inmates as of 12/31/09), savings of $23.9 million in annual operating costs and $12,431,000 in five-year capital-cost avoidance, including providing shower controls ($300,000), upgrading the site-wide security perimeter closed circuit television system ($800,000) and replacing the hot water boiler house ($9,431,000 plus the recurring annual cost to hire five additional employees to help operate it) in 2012-13, and rehabilitating the Flower Building basement ($200,000) in 2013-14. Ogdensburg’s other 122 beds are in unoccupied housing units that are no longer staffed, a result of the department’s 2008 housing unit consolidations.

Moriah Shock Incarceration (102 employees as of 12/31/09; 300 beds – only 200 in staffed housing units; 170 inmates as of 12/31/09), savings of $9.5 million in annual operating costs and $695,000 in five-year capital construction costs, including renovation of the water tower ($225,000) in 2010-11, upgrading HVAC air handlers to eliminate window air conditioning units ($45,000) in 2011-12, upgrading insulation of building 1 ($50,000) in 2012-13, and replacing the site-wide fire alarm system ($300,000) and replacing mess hall tables ($75,000) in 2014-15. Moriah’s other 100 beds are in unoccupied housing units that are no longer staffed, a result of the department’s 2008 housing unit consolidations.

Moriah Shock is located in the town of Moriah, a former iron-mining town where jobs and economic opportunity are scarce.

The facility houses low-risk inmates and the prisoners have offered a wide range of services to the region, including firefighting.

Facilities in Clinton and St. Lawrence County also provide hundreds of jobs, at a time when private-sector jobs are scarce.

NCPR will air Governor Paterson’s budget address live at 11 am and will have full coverage of this story this afternoon during All Before Five.