The former Gowanda Correctional Facility is pictured in April 2021. Village officials remain frustrated by the lack of reuse plans from New York state. P-J file photo

GOWANDA — Gov. Kathy Hochul in May announced the formation of a commission tasked at finding new uses for prisons closed across New York state. In touting the Prison Redevelopment Commission, the governor said shuttered facilities could be turned into “hubs of regional opportunity” and local economic engines.

In Gowanda, home to the now-closed medium-security Gowanda Correctional Facility, officials have been stymied in efforts to learn why the prison was closed so suddenly and what compensation might be available for lost revenue.

Complicating the matter, Gowanda Mayor David Smith said last week, is that reuse options for the local prison are severely handicapped due to the facility that sits adjacent to the closed prison.

“Quite frankly, it has limitations,” Smith said of redevelopment options. “On the same parcel is the medium-security Collins Correctional Facility.”

Whereas some shuttered prisons could make for senior housing or other supportive facilities, having another medium-security prison next door, Smith noted, likely rules out many options being explored elsewhere.

“Right now, the winning answer is using the facility as a step-out place for those released from Collins,” the Gowanda mayor said. “You could do job training, counseling so they can be better reintegrated into society.”

Smith said village officials recently took a lengthy tour of the closed prison with a Empire State Development official. After a year and a half of unanswered questions regarding the facility’s closure in March 2021, Smith said it was nice to see the state making an effort.

“At least they listened to us,” the mayor said of the tour this month. He was told Empire State Development and DOCCS were in the “gathering information stage” of possibly reimagining the Gowanda Correctional Facility.

Smith isn’t impressed with the slow rollout.

“When you’re in politics, that’s like your parents saying, ‘We’ll see.’ We’re fairly discouraged. We feel ignored and we feel like they don’t care about us.”

A DECLINING POPULATION

DOCCS announced closure plans in December 2020 for three prisons — Gowanda, Watertown and the Clinton Annex — that combined employed hundreds of workers.

The decision, a state spokesman said at the time, was based on a variety of factors, including physical infrastructure, program offerings, facility security level, specialized medical and mental health services, other facilities in the area to minimize the impact to staff, potential reuse options and areas of the state where prior closures have occurred in order to minimize the impact to communities.

Closures have become more common due to an ongoing decline in the state’s prison population. According to a New York Times report, the reduction is partly the result of the dismantling of the state’s 1970s-era drug law as well as recent laws that allow early release for nonviolent offenders.

As of Tuesday, the total incarcerated population in state correctional facilities was 30,972. According to DOCCS, that represents the lowest total since 1984 and is more than a 57% decline in population since the department’s high of 72,773 in 1999.

FEELING THE LOSS

Smith said 57 Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests have been filed seeking information from the state on the prison’s closure. The mayor claims the village should have been given more notice of the shuttering — not just 30 days as was done — as well as a reuse plan for the sprawling property once it did close.

At present, Smith said the Gowanda Area Redevelopment Corp., in conjunction with the village, has not been given an answer.

Smith said the loss of the prison means fewer dollars being spent locally.

“You live in a town and work in that town,” he said. “All your short-term stops are right there. You buy a bottle of Diet Mountain Dew and maybe a bag of chips for a snack. Going shopping and you stop to get your groceries.”

The state helped relocate many prison employees to other facilities, meaning some moved out of Gowanda while others now commute. Either way, Smith said there are fewer people shopping locally for quick items and routine groceries.

“DOCCS employees were reassigned, so they moved or they commute,” said Smith, who believes those dollars are now being spent elsewhere.

WAITING FOR A PLAN

Since 2009 when initial prison closures began across the state, 27 correctional facilities have been closed. According to DOCCS, several facility annexes, which are not included in the list, also have been consolidated, reducing the overall number of beds across state correctional facilities.

At present, DOCCS is working with the Office of General Services and Empire State Development to facilitate the reuse of closed prisons. That’s in conjunction with the Prison Redevelopment Commission announced by Hochul.

“As New York continues to move forward, we are looking at ways to revitalize our economy, including reimagining shuttered state prison properties as hubs of regional opportunity,” Hochul said in May. “As I promised in my State of the State, I have created a commission of public and private sector leaders, as well as economic development experts from around the country, to best connect our industry and workforce goals with action plans that will both save taxpayer money and bring these buildings to new life as economic engines. Our ultimate goal is to put New Yorkers to work, and I am confident this newly formed Prison Redevelopment Commission will help create an action plan to do just that.”

Hope Knight, Empire State Development resident, CEO and commissioner, was named co-chair of the redevelopment commission. Empire State Development did not return a request for comment this week.

Smith, meanwhile, said he hopes Hochul “puts her money where her mouth is” for reuse of the Gowanda Correctional Facility. He and other stakeholders in the village also are pitching for some form of reimbursement for revenue lost by the prison’s closure

“We’ll see what happens,” Smith said. “We implore them to come up with some genuine reuse and economic reimbursement.”