Gov. Kathy Hochul will announce the closure of another state prison on Tuesday as her administration struggles to grapple with an ongoing staffing crisis, The Post has learned.
Hochul’s administration is set to announce the closure of one upstate facility as well as the restructuring of at least one other facility, multiple sources told The Post.
The move was approved by Democratic lawmakers in this year’s state budget deal, passed in May, that allowed Hochul to close up to three prisons.
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration is set to close at least one more state prison. Matthew McDermott
New York State closed two prisons last year and lawmakers gave Hochul permission to close up to three more this year. AP
The Governor’s announcement comes as she’s set to be in Washington, D.C. Wednesday to raise money and meet with backers for her 2026 reelection campaign.
Earlier this year, thousands of corrections officers walked off the job in an illegal three-week wildcat strike. When Hochul’s administration declared an end to the strike in April, she fired around 2,000 officers, many of whom had refused to return to work.
The prison system is now upwards of 4,000 personnel short and has continued to pay millions for national guard troops to back up the short-staffed facilities since the strike according to a recent court filing by the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, DOCCS.
The state shuttered two facilities just before Christmas last year.