Several prisons across the state expected to close
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ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - The state prison system plans to temporarily shut down 22 inmate housing units at 17 prisons to save money without cutting jobs.
The move is scheduled to be done over the next couple of weeks. Inmates from the 22 under-populated units will be transferred to vacant beds in other units. Guards from the 22 units will be moved to vacant posts elsewhere in their current facilities.
Corrections Commissioner Brian Fischer says the plan will immediately reduce overtime expenses because there will be fewer vacant posts that officers have to work extra hours to cover.
Fischer says the plan will also allow the prison system to leave 149 correction officer positions temporarily unfilled, saving taxpayers more than $8 million.
The move was possible because the prison population has dropped by almost 20 percent in the last decade and nearly 4 percent in the last year alone.
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