Multiple lawmakers have confirmed that the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision will announce the closure of Bare Hill Correctional Facility in Franklin County Tuesday morning.

They say staff will be moved to neighboring facilities. Upstate and Franklin Correctional Facilities are adjacent to Bare Hill.

DOCCS officials are expected to meet with NYSCOPBA Tuesday morning.

Chairs of the State Senate and Assembly Corrections committees confirmed a closure to Spectrum News 1, but Senate Crime Victims, Crime & Correction Committee chair Chair Julia Salazar would not confirm which facility until a formal announcement.

Tuesday morning, DOCCS confimed the closure to Spectrum News 1. 

“Upon enactment of the State budget, which allowed for the closure of up to three correctional facilities, the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) carefully conducted a thorough review of operations at its 42 correctional facilities,” DOCCS told Spectrum News 1 in a statement. “This review was based on a variety of factors including, but not limited to, available beds, physical infrastructure, program offerings and whether they can be relocated to other institutions, facility security level, specialized medical and mental health services, locations where there are no Correction Officer reassignment lists, and other facilities in the area to minimize the impact to staff.” 

DOCCS said this criteria pointed to Bare Hill. 

DOCCS said in addition to the closure of Bare Hill Correctional Facility, they will be consolidating part of Collins Correctional Facility campus to “more efficiently deploy staff and manage the facility.”

As far as staffing, DOCCS stressed that they don’t anticipate any layoffs. 

“DOCCS will work closely with the various bargaining units to provide staff with opportunities for priority placement via voluntary transfers, as well as priority employment at other facilities or other state agencies as a result of the formal Civil Service process that is followed with the closure of a correctional facility,” the statement read.

State prisons typically shutter 90 days after the announcement of a closure.

The most recent state budget allows Gov. Kathy Hochul to announce the closure of up to three prisons by the end of the year. The governor agreed to close more facilities after firing more than 2,000 correction officers who participated in an illegal wildcat strike in February and March, which began the same day former COs were indicted in the murder of Robert Brooks at Marcy Correctional Facility last December. One officer was convicted of murder and manslaughter in Brooks’ death last month.

Thousands of National Guard troops remain in New York prisons that are 4,500 COs short.

Bare Hill, in the North Country, is in Rep. Elise Stefanik’s 21st Congressional District. Stefanik is the leading Republican candidate challenging Hochul for governor next year.

“Once again, Hochul does this heartlessly right before the holidays ripping the rug out from under our correctional officers and their families,” Stefanik said in a statement Tuesday morning. “At every opportunity, Kathy Hochul has turned her back on our hardworking correctional officers and their families.  From abruptly announcing prison closures, to ignoring correctional officers’ concerns, to literally putting them in harm’s way, Kathy Hochul has been not only the Worst Governor in America but also the Worst Governor in New York State’s history when it comes to law enforcement and prison issues.

“Hochul has dangerously pursued policies that put violent criminals first and law-abiding New Yorkers and law enforcement last,” she added. “This is another heartless announcement just before the holiday season. Mark my words, correctional officers across the state will be part of our coalition next year that will fire Kathy Hochul to save New York.”

Advocates are expected to rally in cities across the state Tuesday to push the legislature to pass additional prison and sentencing reform.

“After the prison building boom of the 1990s, it’s long past time that New York begins to shutter these facilities of human caging and brutality,” said Thomas Gant, community organizer at Center for Community Alternatives. “But we must also ensure a focus not just on the buildings, but the human beings, creating fair pathways home for incarcerated people who have transformed while inside and opportunities for correctional officers to transition to work in the service of human needs. As the governor looks for other prisons to close, those where we have seen the worst abuses and the fewest opportunities should be shuttered first, including Marcy, where Robert Brooks was brutally murdered and Attica, where the history of violence continues to this day.”

This is a developing story.