Southport Prison Closure Already Impacting Local Businesses

[TTL News 307]

Quote

 

Dan Hurley beams with pride when he shows off the unique products he’s been offering at Bradley Farms for past 38 years. As he and his crew prepare to open for the season, he knows he might not see some of the same families who have been coming to the farm for years.

Southport Correctional Facility was shut down last month, a site that employed over 400 people, many of them from area.

 

Read the rest here.

[Chris 2,155]

All decisions made by the state, be it bail reform laws or closing down facilities such as Southport, Monterey, etc., only seem to benefit one group of people. And it isn't the law abiding, tax paying citizens of the state.  

[MsKreed 1,172]

10 minutes ago, Chris said:

All decisions made by the state, be it bail reform laws or closing down facilities such as Southport, Monterey, etc., only seem to benefit one group of people. And it isn't the law abiding, tax paying citizens of the state.  

The more recent decisions (bail reform, greenlight, etc) have accelerated the punishment of law abiding taxpayers.  In 2019 or 2020. the legislature gave the governor power to empty prisons in 90 days instead of the previous one year. 

I saw first-hand how difficult it was for Monterey staff to get their "affairs in order" with a year's notice. Some were eligible to choose retirement. Others were "lucky" enough to find transfers to other local facilities...transitioning to unfamiliar Max environments, new duties and many adding 30 to 60 minutes to their daily commutes each way. Once those who could had exhausted the (relatively) local transfer options, the rest were uprooting families and undertaking searches for housing. 

With the 90-day closings.....some transfers weren't determined until the notice was down to 30-60 days.  It can be close to impossible to find a new home across town in that time frame.....let alone if you're being sent to Attica, Malone or NYC.  

[Chris 2,155]

Monterey should never have been closed. Hell if anything there's should have been MORE shock incarceration facilities opened across the state. In addition, they should bring back that shock program for local youth, but that's another topic. 

A buddy of mine was at Southport and got lucky enough to get his transfer to ECF. The only problem is he's third shift, which sucks for him and his family. But as he said, "Hey, at least I'm still local."

[MsKreed 1,172]

6 minutes ago, Chris said:

Monterey should never have been closed. Hell if anything there's should have been MORE shock incarceration facilities opened across the state. In addition, they should bring back that shock program for local youth, but that's another topic. 

Absolutely!  The impact on the future of many Shock inmates (and correlating societal gains) were only part of the value.

Those inmates performed thousands of hours of community service that resulted in devastating loss to local communities.  It's bad enough that state agencies have staffing and budget challenges that make it impossible to hire unskilled labor (at $35k plus benefits) to do menial tasks like groundskeeping at the Psyche Center, mowing dikes for the DEC, or sanding and painting DOT plows (and let's point out the roadside trash pickup that's become blight all over!). 

But charities and local municipalities with stretched budgets benefited greatly....painting projects at the American Legions, the Eldridge Park pavilion, repairing docks for Boy Scout Camps on the lakes, stacking pallets at the Food Bank, storm cleanup for local parks and cemeteries. 

[Kevin 334]

4 hours ago, Chris said:

Monterey should never have been closed. Hell if anything there's should have been MORE shock incarceration facilities opened across the state. In addition, they should bring back that shock program for local youth, but that's another topic.

They should 100% bring back the shock programs and add to it. The recidivism rate for shock inmates was so much lower and you didn't have the violence between inmates like a "normal" prison.  The one for kids was not successful and didn't work. 

[MsKreed 1,172]

1 hour ago, Kevin said:

They should 100% bring back the shock programs and add to it. The recidivism rate for shock inmates was so much lower and you didn't have the violence between inmates like a "normal" prison.  The one for kids was not successful and didn't work. 

A major factor in the state Shock program working was that it was 100% voluntary. 

Qualifying inmates with sentences of 1-3 years had to agree to participate in order to get out in 6 months. It was a tough program, but doing the "real" time (for a longer duration) would be worse...at the mercy of more dangerous felons (at the very least extorting your commissary, at worst.....risk of assault, etc). 

And at any time that they failed to (or chose not to) adhere to the program......they knew they'd finish their whole sentence at a "real" state prison. So the vast majority made the effort to learn what the program was teaching. 

My understanding of the youth program locally was that it was more difficult to compel kids to adhere because there was no a "worse" alternative if they screwed up. 

Southport served a valuable purpose on the other end of the spectrum....the worst of the worst need to be held in special housing....if for no other reason than to protect other inmates from harm (not to mention staff and society).  Every politician that voted to give those animals "compassion" ought to be required to offer up a guest room in their own home to one of them 🙂

[Ann 263]

We had a young lady who kept appearing in the Court on Disorderly Conduct charges as a result of bad behavior in school.  This charge is a violation that carries a sentence of up to 15 days in jail.  I remember she had 3 pending cases when school let out for summer vacations.  She appeared at each pre-trial conference during the summer, giving the Judge a story about how she was behaving.  He wanted to work with her and give her a chance.  School started, and she started appearing again, back to old behavior.  By November, she had 7 pending cases.

 A new charge came in to the Court the beginning of December making 8 files.  She had previously pled guilty to the prior 7 charges and was to be sentenced at the December pre-trial.  The Judge had told her he was considering jail but I had had enough with her.  I prepared Commitment Orders for each file, 15 days on each to be served consecutively.  I showed the Judge the new file, (she had spit on a teacher), and strongly suggested he sign each Order.  
 

She spent Christmas in jail during the Holidays and she never appeared in the Court again.  Lesson learned.