Legislation in progress to privatize land of 3 former NY prisons
By Gwendolyn Craig
Gov. Kathy Hochul may have come up with a way to free the land under three closed prisons from the state forest preserve to allow for private businesses to operate, according to a Hochul spokesperson.
The “’administration is actively working with the Legislature to develop a path forward,” a Hochul spokesperson said amid information collected suggesting a deal is within reach.
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It would come before the end of the legislative session to address the former Mount McGregor Correctional Facility in Saratoga County, Camp Gabriels Correctional Facility in Franklin County and Moriah Shock Incarceration Facility in Essex County.
A “governor’s program bill” is expected to be introduced and passed, according to a legislative source with knowledge of the matter. The state Attorney General’s Office is also expected to review the bill, according to people familiar with the deal.
“Closed prisons are currently sitting unused in and around the Adirondack Park, and Governor Hochul is committed to repurposing the land to help communities meet the needs of their residents,” the Hochul spokesperson added.
Details are still being negotiated, particularly the amount of acreage that would have to be added to the forest preserve in exchange for allowing the prisons to be available for privatized uses.
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The state Constitution prevents the sale or lease of forest preserve lands and any variances require a multi-step process for an amendment.
An amendment to the state Constitution can only be made after it passes two consecutively elected Legislatures and is approved by voters. With elections upcoming, an amendment must see first passage before the end of session to appear before voters next November. Otherwise, the earliest an amendment could be adopted would be November 2027.
John Sheehan, communications director of the Adirondack Council, said the acreage added to the forest preserve under terms of the program bill could range from 1,100 to 2,500. It’s not clear what lands the state would purchase, but Sheehan said generally the acquisitions are in the same county as the land being removed from the forest preserve.
“We generally have asked that it be in the same county,” Sheehan said, “to make sure local residents aren’t being deprived of recreational opportunities.”
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Multiple organizations have called for the constitutional amendment process to be used to free the prison land, most recently in a letter to Hochul, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, on Tuesday. They named the three prisons and urged that first passage of an amendment happen before the Legislature, scheduled to end its session Thursday, breaks for the year.
“Each of the three closed correctional facilities is sprawling and contains considerable acreage and an assortment of buildings,” the letter read. “The existence of closed prisons on the Forest Preserve undermines very basic Forever Wild values of wilderness, solitude, outdoor recreation, wildlife protection, and universal openness and accessibility.”
The letter came from the Adirondack Council, Adirondack Mountain Club, Protect the Adirondacks, Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter and John Brown Lives.
Camp Gabriels is the longest vacant of the facilities, closed in 2009. State Sen. Dan Stec and his predecessor Betty Little, both Republicans from Queensbury, ushered a constitutional amendment removing the 92-acre complex from the forest preserve multiple times in the Senate. It passed this year, but continued to stall in the Assembly.
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In that amendment, the town of Brighton, home to Gabriels, would own the water rights on the property to create a water district for residents about two miles away in an area known as “Easy Street.” About a dozen homeowners there have high levels of sodium in their drinking water supply due to the state’s application of road salt near their wells.
Mount McGregor, 53 acres, was closed in 2014 and is in the towns of Corinth, Moreau and Wilton. Though not in the Blue Line, the state-owned land is in a forest preserve county and thus is considered forest preserve lands.
Sixty-acre Moriah Shock was closed in 2022 and is in the towns of Moriah and Elizabethtown.
Top photo: Part of the Moriah Shock complex in Mineville. Photo by Tim Rowland
I honestly feel they should repurpose the buildings making them indoor vertical farms for food and recreational cannabis we could also open a trade school from seed to sale and help put jobs and education back into the community not letting them miss out on the new recreational laws of cannabis and providing food for themselves and counties around them , I was in prison in Franklin County New York for sales of controlled substances while incarcerated I participated in a trade school program and got my masters in horticulture landscape farming I specialize in indoor grow and green house as well as organic regenerative farming and landscaping true organic living soil as well as indoor hydroponics we grew food for the prison in a green house the food we grew not only fed the 1700inmate population but we also donated food to the homeless fruits vegetables hydroponicly farmed and organically farmed in and outdoors as well as in hoop and green house the inside of a prison is ample for vertical grows and as said not only cannabis but veggies fruits and other flowers that are in season the opportunity these prisons provide those that have already been there we came up with multiple uses for the community and the empty prisons but the water source the electricity the building the land its all there all set up for indoor and outdoor preservation grows to help feed rebuild and house the families that surround the land giving back to the lower class opening opportunity for all teach people how to grow vertically indoors and out set up a indoor grow that teaches people willing to come live for 6 to 8 months experience growing from seed to sale giving them the opportunity for employment there after and the knowledge to feed a village and provide recreational activities for adults and children alike kids have a huge bennifit if their parents work in these fields they can then go teach others grow their own food and medicine as well as provide business knowledge and educational training techniques each one teach one see one feed two
While this attempt to amend Article XIV at the 11th hour is certainly expedient, in its attempt to tie together three former prisons in a single constitutional amendment that nobody has yet read or digested, the process is rushed, and anything but careful and deliberate. The former Camp Gabriels amendment has been read and considered for years and ought to finally pass on its own. Tying all 3 in a constitutional amendment no one has seen and at the last minute is not the way to amend the State Constitution. That is why Adirondack Wild did not sign onto the letter.
The Town of Brighton should file a letter of intent with the State, stating they can acquire by eminent domain Camp Gabriels for the purpose of providing a source of safer drinking water for area residents, by July 1 2025 .
A small portion of the property could be designated as a future site for a second Paul Smith’s – Gabriels Volunteer Fire Department firehouse and fire safety training center.
The state would need to cleanup the buildings Some buildings could be partially demolished and be used for various rescue situations.
Let’s hope the State will act to reuse these properties in a way that is beneficial for the area’s residents as soon as possible.