UPSTATE NEW YORK

With more than half of New York State’s sixty-two counties either in the process of constructing a new jail or having recently completed expansion, there is a wide network of concerned community members throughout the state who feel that pressure from the State Commission of Corrections  to expand local jail facilities represents an unfunded mandate that will cost local communities in both fiscal and social costs.  In Dutchess County, New York, the organization Dutchess Justice formed to advocate for a restoration of funds to local youth services programs and against the proposed new jail, while in Suffolk County, the Concerned Communities for Alternatives to Jail came together to give the public a greater voice in the decision. 

Dutchess Justice meeting in Dutchess County, NY

Across the state, county legislators have also been decrying the costs of the proposed new facilities, with the recognition that the cost of construction and operations will overwhelm local budgets:

“In good business practice, I feel that we as a County should have been saving dollars from the beginning of time when this issue first came in front of us. We continue to go to the twelfth hour in arriving at dollars which in the long run, costs the taxpayer more money because of bonding and borrowing. I feel that we should be looking at the reason that we are having an increase in population in our jail.  With a stable population, something is drastically wrong if we are causing our population to commit more and more crime. There should be a major movement in our society to reduce the crime that is occurring rather than providing facilities and acknowledging that we have more and more criminals. Because of that, I will not support this bond issue.”

-Doug Richmond, County Legislature, R-District 22, Chautaqua County

“The reasons that some of the people are in there and I just can’t bring myself to vote for that much money when I personally feel that a large percentage of those people don’t have to be in the jail at this particular time. There are other alternatives.”

 -Legislator Alvin Crowe, County Legislature, R-District 4, Chautaqua County

Dutchess Justice teach-in picnic Dutchess County, NY

Dutchess Justice gathering Dutchess County, NY

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