Mapping Closures, Capacity, Staffing, and the Evolving Landscape of NY's Prisons
Published: November 13, 2025
New York’s prisons are operating well under capacity and strained by staffing shortages. The map below provides a snapshot of the most recently available population, capacity, and staffing level data for operational prison facilities, illustrates where recent prison closures have occurred, and includes the status of fixed and body-worn camera installations by facility. The map also places prisons in context by indicating county-level population data.
Stationary and Body Worn Cameras:
The Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) is gradually installing stationary cameras in prisons, a process which has been expedited with an additional $400 million in the FY 2026 State Budget. As of October 2025, the installation status remains partial across the system's 42 state prisons. Eleven facilities currently have facility-wide stationary cameras fully installed. Six facilities are currently in the process of having facility-wide stationary cameras installed; two of these facilities anticipate completion in 2028. The remaining facilities have yet to begin the process of installing facility-wide stationary cameras. Bedford Hills is listed as having facility-wide fixed cameras installed by 2019, but also has a fixed camera project underway, set for completion in 2028. For the purpose of these visualizations, the facility is listed as having fixed cameras installed facility-wide by 2019. According to records shared by DOCCS in October of 2025, there were body cameras in-use at all but one facility.
Population, Capacity, and Staffing:
As of October 2025, prisons were 76% full when considering total capacity versus total population. As of April 2025, 27% of DOCCS positions were vacant, with significant vacancies in all staffing categories: security (32% vacant), health services (23% vacant), support services (15% vacant), and program services (14% vacant).
The overall vacancy rate increased between January 2024 and April 2025 from 9% to 27%, despite slight improvements in vacancies for health services (25% to 23%), support services (19% to 15%), and program services (17% to 14%). This increase was driven by a significant surge in vacant security staff positions, which rose from 5% to 32% following the illegal corrections officers' strike in February and March 2025. The data used in this map is from April 2025, after 2,000 correctional officers and sergeants were terminated following the conclusion of the illegal strike.
The impacts of staffing issues manifest differently across prisons. Operations can vary from one prison to another due to several factors, including facility security level. The table below includes information about each prison’s regional hub, security level, neighboring facilities, capacity, staffing levels, the installation of facility-wide fixed cameras, and the use of body-worn cameras.
In the past ten years, the number of prisons in the state has decreased by 32%, and the prison population has dropped by 37%. The line graph below charts changes in the prison population in relationship to the closure of 19 prisons since 2014.