Local leaders urge prison reuse with innovative ideas

MINEVILLE | Adirondack environmental organizations and local elected officials gathered Dec. 12 to urge Gov. Kathy Hochul not to mothball the former Moriah Shock Incarceration Facility as planned by Dec. 31, but instead reuse it to bolster conservation and boost employment. Officials said there are several options that would bring new life to the structure and that reuse would help the community recover from the job losses and lost business opportunities associated with the closure of a state institution. They also pointed to several recent state initiatives that would benefit from an additional state building in the Adirondacks to offer training and housing. "Moriah Shock campus is a diamond that lies within the eastern portion of the Adirondack Park," said Moriah Town Supervisor Thomas Scozzafava. "The facility is in great condition and has the infrastructure to support this proposal. Moriah lost over 100 jobs when they closed it, which has had a severe economic impact on our community. To let this facility sit vacant is a travesty when a number of reuses are possible." "New York needs more personnel in the Adirondacks to manage the forests it already owns as well as forests it hopes to protect in the future. This park is the nation's largest carbon sink outside of Alaska and it will be essential to solving the global climate crisis," said Adirondack Council Forever Adirondacks Campaign Director Aaron Mair. "Managing our forests and visitors will take people from all over New York, from all kinds of backgrounds and with many different talents. They will need a place to learn about the Adirondacks and experience the wilderness for themselves. They need to earn the skills and credentials they will need to be a part of the climate solution. For some, the new Timbuctoo Summer Climate Careers Institute in Newcomb will be step one to the new career. Step two can be right here." Moriah Shock Incarceration Facility was a minimum-security corrections facility for non-violent offenders to participate in a highly structured regimen of physical exercise and community service. It was closed in 2021 due to a lack of inmates, but remains in excellent condition, officials said. Sen. Dan Stec said, "We must find a reuse for Moriah Shock that improves the quality of life for our communities. Whether it's affordable housing, training facilities or some sort of economic development, the time to act is now. The facility is still in great shape and should be put to use before it falls into disrepair, like so many other closed correctional facilities have. By putting forward a constructive plan, we can ensure the site remains an important hub for social and economic activity for generations to come." Assemblyman Billy Jones (D-Chateaugay Lake) said, "We have an opportunity here at Mineville to repurpose the building for conservation purposes which will create jobs, prevent the building from deteriorating, and help the environment. Prison closures have negatively impacted the North Country community and we must continue to work together to revitalize closed correctional facilities and help the local communities that were directly impacted by these closures." Assemblyman Matt Simpson called the facility a remarkable asset to the state. "Moriah Shock was in no uncertain terms an ecosystem predicated on providing a public benefit and being a force of good both locally and to the State of New York at large. It is absolutely pivotal that the Governor and the Prison Redevelopment Task Force find a stable long-term use that provides an equitable benefit previously provided to New Yorkers for decades . . . . We have an opportunity to write a new chapter that proves New York can create something lasting and be a force of good." Essex County Board of Supervisors Chairman Shaun Gilliland said, "This facility is a true gem, ready to be reused for another mission in the support of the state. The opportunity to develop this facility as a training venue for the Adirondacks, within the Adirondack Park, should absolutely not be allowed to go by. You will find an entire community here ready and able to work toward its success. The legacies of Camp Gabriels and Lyon Mountain must be ended and a new era of real State property redevelopment begun here at Moriah Shock." Adirondack Council Deputy Director Raul "Rocci" Aguirre noted that New York's Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act will require new efforts to curb greenhouse gases and to conserve the forests that remove carbon dioxide from the air. That will spur new jobs in private sector contractors and public employment (forest rangers, engineers, planners), he said. Aguirre said, "Transforming a prison to a place of learning, and using it to train a Civilian Climate Corps – like the Civilian Conservation Corps of the Great Depression – would offer new career paths and new lifestyle options to Black and Latino students who might not find their way into the Adirondacks otherwise. Can you imagine living your whole life and never coming here? In turn, the Adirondacks would benefit from a fresh shot of youthful enthusiasm." Meanwhile, Mair explained follow-up job training will be needed for graduates of the newly created Timbuctoo Summer Climate and Careers Institute, a two-week introductory program that will be hosted at the College of Environmental Science and Forestry in nearby Newcomb. The local Timbuctoo was one of nearly a dozen Essex County farming communities established by Abolitionists who helped 3,000 Black men secure the right to vote in New York, long before the start of the Civil War. Suffrage for Black men in the 1840s required ownership of $250 worth of property. The Summer Climate Careers Institute will bring students to the Adirondacks from Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, named for the 20th Century Black civil rights activist. Medgar Evers Professor Wallace Ford volunteered his time to the Adirondack Diversity Advisory Group, which helped to establish the Adirondack Diversity Initiative, which now has a full-time director in Saranac Lake. Those interactions led to discussions about establishing the Careers Institute. That led to legislation and a $2.1-million state grant in April, championed in the state budget by members of the Legislature's Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Caucus.

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Local leaders urge prison reuse with innovative ideas

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