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CA Support for Governor Cuomo’s Prison Downsizing Initiative Included in His Proposed State Budget

February 1, 2011

Governor Cuomo presented his proposed New York State budget today, which included the kind of significant prison downsizing initiative that the Correctional Association has been urging Albany policymakers to adopt.

His proposal to cut 3,500 beds from the state’s prison system represents a major step in the right direction. Responding appropriately both to the state's fiscal crisis and the system's large and growing number of empty beds, he has put flesh on the bone of his previous statement that New York should not create jobs for some people by locking up other people. He has begun undoing the misbegotten prison expansion policies of the recent past that led to a bloated and burdensome corrections budget and the unnecessary confinement of thousands of low-level offenders. He has initiated, in effect, a new era of prison policy for New York that could very well provide a model for other financially challenged states across the country.

Stay tuned for our reports on relevant developments in the coming weeks and months as the opposition mounts its inevitable pushback and we and our allies organize in support of this long overdue and morally and fiscally responsible measure.

For more information, please contact Robert Gangi at rgangi@correctionalassociation.org or 212-254-5700 ext. 305

Related Press:

  • AS REPUBLICANS RESIST CLOSING PRISONS, CUOMO IS SAID TO SCALE BACK PLANS (New York Times) Nearly a month ago, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo made a call to close some prisons an emotional capstone of his first annual address to the Legislature, vowing, to sustained applause from fellow Democrats, that underused prisons would no longer be “an employment program” for upstate New York. But now Mr. Cuomo appears to be, at least partly, in retreat.
  • TOO MUCH SPACE IN NEW YORK'S PRISONS (Newsday) In his State of the State address, Gov. Andrew M. earned an ovation by denouncing the notion that juvenile incarceration should be seen as a jobs program.
  • A GOOD PLACE TO START CUTTING (The New York Times) Gov. Andrew Cuomo struck just the right tone on both adult prison reform and juvenile justice reform in his first State of the State address on Wednesday.