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| Another North Country town rallies to save its prison |
| By northcountrypublicradio.org - Brian Mann |
| Published: 10/08/2013 |
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This year, we're looking in-depth at the North Country's prison industry, how it grew into one of the region's top employers and how it's changing. Over the weekend, hundreds of corrections officers, families, and elected officials gathered in Chateaugay in northern Franklin County. They came to protest the latest round of state prison closures, now slated for 2014. Four correctional facilities are on the chopping block, including two here in the North Country -- Mt. McGregor in Saratoga County and Chateaugay Correctional Facility. At first glance, the huge gathering at Chateaugay’s recreation park looks like an autumn fair. There’s face-painting, kids with plastic noise-makers – the smell of hotdogs and burgers. Then Billy Jones – chair of Franklin County’s legislature and a local here in Chateaugay opens the microphone. "I'd like to welcome everyone here and thank you all for coming to support our community and our effort to keep Chateaugay Correctional Facility open," he says. This is a political rally – an event that’s grown far more common in recent years as New York state has moved swiftly to mothball prisons – including Camp Gabriels, also in Franklin County, as well as Lyon Mountain, just next door in Clinton County. "This is one of the largest businesses in the North Country," state Senator Betty Little tells the crowd. At this facility, more than 110 jobs are at stake, but state Senator Betty Little says decisions being made in Albany are also reshaping a way of life in the region. "It's one of the largest employers in the North Country and I've had people in Albany say that the corrections officers in the North Country are among the best," she adds. Jimmy Lord is a corrections officer at Cheateaugay, who’s worked there for 8 years, and is also a member of the NYSCOPBA prison guards union. He says mothballing this correctional facility will throw his life – and the life of his neighbors – into turmoil. "I think it's going to be devastating to the local economy, the village economy, the town economy, the county economy," he says. Read More. |
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