State will close Monterey Shock facility

MONTEREY—The New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision announced, Friday, July 26, it will close the Monterey Shock Incarceration Correctional Facility in Schuyler County in July of next year.
According to the state, the Monterey facility is one of four prisons to be closed. The other facilities are located in Wayne, Franklin, and Saratoga Counties.
The state said the 2014 closing will allow for a gradual transition, providing affected employees with more options for positions within the department and other agencies. The state said all employees will be reassigned to other facilities.
The corrections department said the prison population statewide has decreased 24 percent since 1999. As of the announcement, the Monterey facility houses 158 inmates, but has a maximum capacity of 300. There are also 124 staff members. The closure plan proposes preventing layoffs by transitioning employees to other facilities.
“Over the next 12 months, we will have the beds available in the system to transfer those inmates from the four facilities and not impact the safety of staff, the inmate population, or the public,” Acting Commissioner Anthony J. Annucci said. “No inmates will be released early due to the closing of a facility, and we will not have to seek any temporary, double bunking variances from the State Commission of Correction.”
Monterey was the department’s first shock facility. It celebrated its 25th year in 2012. Schuyler County Partnership for Executive Development Executive Director Kelsey Jones said the big concern is what the facility becomes after it closes. He said, “What does the state do with it?”
Following the announcement, State Sen. Tom O’Mara (R,C-Big Flats) said he was opposed to Monterey closing. In a press release, he said, “I’ll continue to raise all of these concerns and questions, and will keep working with local leaders to try to make the case to the Cuomo administration that there may be more effective ways to achieve the short-and long-term goals we share.”
“Not only has the program been an asset to taxpayers, but it has provided new hope and changed the lives of so many who have graduated from the program,” Assemblyman Phil Palmesano (R-Corning) also said in a press release.