Closing the Gowanda Correctional Facility will have a devastating impact on the local economy, according to Gowanda Mayor David Smith.
The medium security prison in the Town of Collins is one of three state prisons New York State is shuttering as a cost saving move.
The two other state prisons being closed are the Watertown Correctional Facility and the Clinton Annex in Dannemora.
All three are expected to be closed by March 30, according to a letter from the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.
"To achieve the savings associated with the state's financial plan for this agency, the closure process must begin immediately," wrote Acting Commissioner Anthony Annucci.
More than 900 corrections officers work at the three prisons, including more than 500 at Gowanda, according to the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association. About 130 civilian employees also work at Gowanda, according to State Sen. Patrick Gallivan, R-Elma.
Gallivan said state officials assured him Monday that all the employees are to be offered transfers to other prisons around the state.
But that would mean many would have to travel farther to work, or move out of the area, the Gowanda mayor said.
"These people have continued to go in because the need to run the prison doesn't stop. And now they get this news four days before Christmas," Smith said. "It potentially could have a devastating effect on our economy."
Upstate communities were struggling even before the onset of Covid-19. Removing hundreds of jobs within these localities will be a crippling financial blow. And to deliver this news just days before Christmas is flat out wrong," said Michael B. Powers, president of the corrections officers union.
The budget passed by the State Legislature in 2020 authorized the closing of two prisons.
The state letter gave a 90-day notice of the planned shutdown. The Gowanda Correctional Facility is located on the same campus as the Collins Correctional Facility, another medium security prison in the Town of Collins.
The prisons are the largest employer in the rural community, according to town Supervisor Ken Martin. He said there had been talk throughout the year of the state closing some prisons.
"You just hope the one in your community is the one that isn't chosen to get closed," Martin said.
Gallivan, whose district includes the Gowanda Correctional Facility, is a member of the Senate committee with oversight over prisons. He said in a tweet that his office will be working with the state corrections department and unions to help affected workers.
"It's terribly unfair that some of our neediest, most rural communities with small tax bases are the ones that are suffering," he said. "There are prisons in other places that have larger tax bases."
The closure was attributed to the sharp decline in the inmate population and the need to operate the prison system more efficiently. ... State Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt, said the announcement "demonstrates an ill-will toward hard-working upstate New Yorkers," and he urged the governor to reverse the decision.
And state GOP Chairman Nick Langworthy called the announcement four days before Christmas "cold-hearted" and "miserly."