New fears (and hopes) of prison closures

The Watertown Daily Times is reporting today that legislators in St. Lawrence County are worried that the region's prison-employment base could take another hit.

Donald Peck, a Republican from Gouverneur, told the newspaper that it would "devastate Gouverneur if that facility closed. I'm sure it would be the same for other communities."

According to the newspaper, roughly 1700 workers are employed in the Watertown hub. We also have prisons around Malone and across the Adirondacks, from Ray Brook to Moriah.

But inmate populations in New York state's prisons have declined sharply in recent years, and the trend continues.

That led to the closure of Camp Gabriels, near Saranac Lake, last July.

In late December, New York City announced that murder rates have dropped to an all-time low. This from CBS News.

The city that was once America's murder capital, with a record 2,245 homicides in 1990, is now boasting an all time low of 461 homicides.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly made the announcement Monday that the city is on track to post the lowest number of homicides since record keeping began in the 1960's.

The math is simple. Fewer criminals means fewer convictions means fewer men and women behind bars.

Add to that the Rockefeller drug law reforms, which route more offenders into drug and alcohol treatment programs, and the rationale for the North Country's vast prison complex gets pretty shaky.

The pressure to close prisons is increased by two factors: dislike for the "Siberia" treatment among activists and lawmakers in New York City; and the increasingly dire budget deficit.

Keeping prisons open just to keep jobs in place will be a tougher and tougher argument to make in Albany.

In mid-December, an activist group called "Drop the Rock" staged rallise around the state "calling for prison closures, reforms of work release, parole and merit time..."

A lot of downstate activists want more jobs in their own communities, as a way to further reduce crime.

So what do you think? Are prisons the bedrock for a strong economy going forward? Or are we likely to see more facilities, like Camp Gabriels, mothballed?