*This story and the following sidebar outline what happens to a state-owned prison when it closes and the long odds of redeveloping such facilities.
ROME — In Housing Unit L, the dormitory style cubicles where prisoners slept are all but cleared out save for a few toiletries and an occasional magazine.
At Oneida Correctional Facility, prisoners aren’t attending vocational classes anymore; they aren’t eating in the cafeteria and they aren’t lifting weights in the prison’s recreation yard.
Now that the fight to save Oneida Correctional is all but over and the prisoners all have been relocated, area officials now must turn their focus to finding a suitable reuse for the aging prison.
“I think that Rome and the county are the two major players in that,” Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente said. “Between the leadership of both and the economic development agencies that serve both, this should work.”
At the time of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s announcement to close seven prisons in late June, Oneida Correctional held 939 prisoners, about 80 percent of its capacity. It took only five weeks to transport those prisoners to other medium security facilities throughout the state.
The prison now will be decommissioned, winterized, secured and handed to the state Office of General Services as surplus, said state Department of Correctional Services spokesman Peter Cutler said.
On Thursday, during a tour of the facility, staff members lingered about. Most doors no longer require a key to pass through, and boxes of equipment and books were stacked along walls.
The fresh smell of sawdust still lingered in the woodshop, even though the tools and equipment used by prisoners were long removed.
“By Oct. 1, there will be no one in there,” said Cutler of the prison and its employees.
Late last week, 55 security personnel and 133 civilian workers still were working in the prison.
Of the 294 security personnel that had worked there prior to the closure, 126 were able to transfer to facilities within the state’s local cluster of prisons in Rome and Marcy, Cutler said.
The remaining employees were forced to work at another prison, or find employment elsewhere.
What happens next?
After Oct. 1, Oneida Correctional will be maintained by the state until a new owner is found, state Office of General Services spokesperson Heather Groll said.
The building could either be sold to Empire State Development Corp., to a municipality or to a private entity to be developed. The final option would require the governor’s signature.
Local and state leaders here offered mixed responses to the future of the structure.
Picente said the facility needs to be evaluated to determine its condition, its value and whether there is a reuse for it.
“There should be a collective discussion about its uses or whether it should be torn down,” Picente said. “Or could we use the space for other economic development purposes?”
The county executive said Mohawk Valley EDGE should also be involved in future discussions about marketing the building. EDGE President Steve DiMeo could not be reached.
Economic development funds
State Office of General Services Commissioner Roann Destito once lobbied for the Rome area as its 116th District assemblywoman.
“As OGS commissioner, I am hopeful that the communities affected by prison closure, including Rome, will take full advantage of the tax credits and $50 million in economic development funds available through the Empire State Development Economic Transformation Program, which was created with Gov. Cuomo’s commitment to assist the communities that will lose a prison facility,” Destito said in an emailed statement.
The prison sits within Sen. David Valesky’s district as well.
“I am continuing to work with our local delegation to secure economic development funding for the region, and I will support all efforts for positive redevelopment and reuse of the Oneida Correctional Facility,” the Oneida Democrat wrote in response to questions.
The governor’s office has said that the state’s prisoner count has decreased 22 percent, since 1999, to about 56,000 this year. In total, the state’s prison system will be consolidated by about 3,800 beds in 2011, which is expected to save the state $72 million this year and $112 million in 2012.
Oneida is the largest facility slated for closure, although an 89-employee food production center that is operated out of the prison will remain open because its services are shared with neighboring Mohawk Correctional Facility.
The only prison of the seven slated to close that still houses prisoners is Arthur Kill Correctional Facility, which is slated for closure in December, Cutler said.
‘Substantial state aid’
Communities where prisons are closed will be eligible for economic incentives from the state.
A request for an explanation of those incentives from the Empire State Development Corp., which will administer the funds, was redirected to the governor’s initial news release about the prison closures.
Communities affected by the closures can request money from a $50 million fund as well as additional tax credits to help ease the economic loss of the facilities.
“We will work closely to ensure impacted areas are given substantial state aid to help them create jobs and transform their local economies,” Cuomo says in the release.
Picente said he has received limited information about how economic incentives will be paid.
“I’ve tried setting up a meeting with (ESD Commissioner) Ken Adams and (Rome) Mayor James Brown to have a walk through to see what the drill is,” Picente said. “There has to be a starting point about what type of recovery grants we can go toward. Right now, I haven’t heard a lot.”
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