New York closes 6 state prisons as inmate numbers drop

New York closes 6 state prisons as inmate numbers drop

FILE - This Aug. 10, 2019, shows razor wire fencing at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York. Inmates and advocates said numerous inmates exhibiting flu-like symptoms were not tested or quarantined at several facilities, including at FCI Yazoo City in Mississippi and at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Six correctional facilities in upstate New York are closing as the number of inmates drops across the state prison system. The closings on Thursday were first announced in November and were expected to save $142 million. The facilities scheduled to close at the end of the business day were: Ogdensburg Correctional Facility, Moriah Shock Incarceration Correctional Facility, Willard Drug Treatment Campus, Southport Correctional Facility, Downstate Correctional Facility and Rochester Correctional Facility. More than 1,700 people worked at facilities and there were more than 1,400 inmates. The state said inmates were transferred to other facilities and that officials worked to find other jobs for employees.

Photo: FILE – This Aug. 10, 2019, shows razor wire fencing at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York. Inmates and advocates said numerous inmates exhibiting flu-like symptoms were not tested or quarantined at several facilities, including at FCI Yazoo City in Mississippi and at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)