Local leaders react to word of Moriah Shock closure

MORIAH | Word of an impending closure of Moriah Shock Incarceration Facility quickly swept through the close-knit community Nov. 8, leaving many officers and families shocked as officials vowed to fight the move. The Mineville facility was one of six announced for closure by the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision Monday with all now expected to permanently shut their doors in March 2022. The news was first delivered in a midday meeting with the New York State Police and Benevolent Association before reaching officers and staff by memo. While further details about the closures are expected in the coming days, NYSCOPBA Northern Region Vice President John Roberts said "Once again, the state chooses its progressive policies over the hard-working men and women of NYSCOPBA with this latest round of closures." "While the North Country is still dealing with the effects of the Clinton Annex closing earlier this year, our members now get hit with this news. My heart goes out to each and every one of the individuals affected by this announcement, especially to my brothers and sisters in Ogdensburg and Moriah." Word of the pending closure ripped through the small Mineville and Moriah communities as many staff members and families wondered what the future would hold. Moriah Supervisor Tom Scozzafava has already been in contact with the DOCCS commissioner and local elected representatives and is currently trying to arrange a meeting with Gov. Kathy Hochul. "Moriah Shock is a great program that stood on its own merits the last time it was slated for closure. I will do everything that is possible to see that Moriah stays open," he told staff and families shortly after the closure was announced. "We have been down this road before, and I will schedule a community meeting as soon as I have more information." Roberts too noted the widespread impacts closures have on surrounding communities and said "It's troubling that lawmakers don't realize that these facilities are more than just buildings and dollar signs, they are part of the very fabric of these communities." "Aside from all of the youth programs that members of NYSCOPBA sponsor, incarcerated individuals who are enrolled in programs at Moriah work within the surrounding area by assisting with storm damage repair, maintaining hiking trails and even help build the popular ice palace during the annual Winter Carnival," Roberts told Sun Community News. "Albany needs to listen to the people the closures directly impact and stop trying to sell us on saving the state money because in the end, the price the community pays each time one of these facilities closes is immeasurable." U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik was also quick to condemn the latest closures and said the move comes as prison violence remains at an all-time high. With two of the prisons in New York's 21st Congressional District, Stefanik said "Targeting multiple North Country prisons is an attack on the hardworking residents of the North Country. Nearly 300 Correctional officers and their families will be displaced." She too noted the ripple effects of the 2021 closures of Clinton Correctional Facility Annex and Watertown Correctional, where many officers were transferred to Ogdensburg Correctional-one of the six now slated for closure with even more transfers to come. Stefanik, who stood arm to arm with Annex staff as they rallied against the eventual closure there, said New Yorkers and the North Country deserve better. State officials said the closures come as a cost-saving measure that reflects the state's declining prison population. Roughly 20 prisons have been shuttered in the last decade at an overall annual state savings of roughly $300 million with a reduction of 10,000 beds, DOCCS officials said. Early numbers show roughly 120 jobs will be affected by the Moriah closure. Assemblyman Matt Simpson said "Closing Moriah Shock is a huge mistake and another sad and disappointing example of flawed policy resulting from single-party agenda-driven rule. Instead of expanding Moriah Shock's proven and successful programs that reduce recidivism and give a hand up to offenders looking to turn their lives around and become productive members of their families and communities, the State simply cuts that program and sends those with the desire and potential to be better back to gen pop." Simpson said the state should be using the reduced inmate populations as opportunities to improve facility inmate-to-officer ratios, especially as both statistically face the highest rates of violence in more than a decade. He said shuttering more facilities and increasing those ratios "exacerbate an already alarming safety situation." "This is a devastating scenario for the 70 officers and 50 civilian employees and their families now faced with an unknown future as they prepare to uproot their entire lives. The lasting effects on the community they are being forced to say goodbye to will only be left with more questions than answers." In addition to Moriah and Ogdensburg, the Willard Drug Treatment Campus, Southport, Downstate and Rochester correctional facilities are also now slated for closure in spring 2022.

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Local leaders react to word of Moriah Shock closure

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