As crime runs rampant across the state, New York’s Progressive Democrats march ahead with their pro-criminal policies. Their latest move is the closure of the upstate Sullivan and Great Meadow prisons.
“The Department of Corrections and Community Supervision announcement is troubling,” the Assembly’s Republican Conference said in a statement. “The intention to close these facilities further exposes New York Democrats’ commitment to undermine law enforcement any chance they get.”
New York communities have become dramatically less safe after the Democrats eliminated bail and aggressively pushed a defund-the-police agenda. Their anti-law enforcement stance put police in the crosshairs, leading to numerous assaults on people in uniform, critics say.
“Albany’s steady drumbeat of pro-criminal policies such as prison closures and the HALT Act have also led to a dramatic rise in violence within New York’s correctional facilities,” noted Assemblyman Joseph DeStefano, a member of the Committee on Correction. “Closing prisons sends a message both to the criminal element and the men and women of law enforcement who believe state leaders don’t have their back."
“The men and women who work in these facilities deserve far better treatment than what they’ve received from New York Democrats,” said Assemblyman Will Barclay, the house’s GOP leader. “The professionals at the state’s correctional facilities do an incredibly difficult job in extremely dangerous conditions. While prison closures were offered in the 2024 State Budget, specifics were not. Providing these families roughly 90 days’ notice to upend their entire lives is insulting.”
"The governor is quick to cite a reduction in the aggregate prison population. That's a reflection of the collapse of our criminal justice system, her failed policies, and a rogue parole board,” state Senator Jake Ashby charged. “When criminals don't feel like they have to even show up for their arraignment when cop-killers are released, and when police officers don't feel like the government supports their efforts to just do their jobs, you're talking about a crisis, not an accomplishment.”
Assemblyman DeStefano pointed to the dramatic decrease in crime in El Salvador after the election of a new president who prioritizes public safety. “President Bukele stopped all major construction in his country until a new mega-prison could be built,” DeStefano said. “He locked up thousands of gang members and other criminals and made his country one of the safest in South America.”
Residents of this once crime-riddled country cheered President Nayib Bukele’s war on crime, which has led to the arrest of more than 64,000 individuals, mostly gang members. Pictures of the tattooed inmates lined up at the prison by the hundreds, their heads shaved to reveal gang insignias, are stunning. After his decisive action, murders and violence in El Salvador dropped dramatically.
The inmates were responsible for the types of crimes that have been on the rise in the U.S. after President Biden threw open the border and the Progressive policies took hold. Between Gov. Kathy Hochul and her predecessor, Andrew Cuomo, 24 state prisons were closed. New York Mayor Eric Adams is also moving ahead with the closure of Rikers Island, the city’s central prison.
According to data released by the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, the state’s prison population reached nearly 73,000 in 1999. As of this year, it’s about half that at just over 33,400.