Nov 19, 2025
Pictured is Collins Correctional Facility which is part of the New York state prison downsizing plans.
A Western New York facility is part of a prison downsizing plan announced by the New York state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.
In a news release issued Tuesday morning, officials noted the partial closing of the Collins Correctional Facility. Plans are for the location to be consolidated to more efficiently deploy staff and manage the facility.
“The decision to close any facility is difficult for all involved,” the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision said in the release. “Across the country, correctional agencies continue to struggle to meet staffing demands, and the Department is no exception despite new and aggressive recruitment efforts. The closure of one facility and consolidation of Collins Correctional Facility will help ensure the safe and efficient operation of the system, utilizing staff more effectively while operating programs in a safe manner.
This decision was decisively made to minimize the effect on staff, and at the same time attempt to close the gap on staffing shortages in our correctional facilities.”
DOCCS will be consolidating one side of the Collins site with the goal of completing the transition by the end of the fiscal year, which is part of the ongoing plan to be transparent and consolidate services to ease staffing.
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.
Across the state, one correctional facility will be shuttered. The Bare Hill Correctional Facility in Malone will cease to operate after March 11.
Members of the New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association (NYSCOPBA) strongly oppose the closures they state will only deepen the crisis of violence, chronic understaffing, and unsustainable working conditions that already plague New York’s prison system.
“We have sounded the alarm for years that New York’s correctional system is at a breaking point,” said Chris Summers, NYSCOPBA president. “Closing prisons is a short-sighted Band-Aid on a gaping wound. It does nothing to address historic staffing shortages, does nothing to curb the record levels of violence inside our facilities, and forces loyal public servants to choose between their livelihoods and their families. Prisons are safest when they are properly staffed and when the population is spread out enough to manage risk effectively. The real solution is to keep facilities open, aggressively recruit and retain staff, and stop treating correction officers as disposable.”
Collins was one of the first sites where corrections officers went on strike in February that nearly went statewide. That work stoppage came after a lockdown only days earlier when an incarcerated individual was found attempting to discard contraband. DOCCS stated about that incident: “There was a use of force which resulted in the recovery of two cell phones. The other incarcerated individuals in his dorm became agitated and attempted to check on the incarcerated individual in possession of the phones, who was not injured. On site, staff and supervisors de-escalated the incident and the incarcerated returned to their cubes. Later that morning, as a result of various potential threats, staff exited three dorms without incident. There were no hostages taken in any of the three dorms.”
All 293 staff assigned to Bare Hill are to be offered positions at other facilities, and neighboring correctional facilities will be able to safely absorb the incarcerated population into vacant beds at other institutions. With more than 650 vacant staff positions available in correctional facilities located in Franklin, Clinton and Essex counties the Department will be able to ensure no staff are laid off, mitigating the impact on both staff, their families and the community.
Bare Hill Correctional Facility will be maintained in a state of ready, to include utilities and maintenance staff to provide for the upkeep of facility infrastructure. The Collins Correctional Facility consolidation will be similarly maintained.
Opponents of the plan, notably from the Republican party, said the closings will not fix an already broken system. “The closure of Bare Hill Correctional Facility in Franklin County and the downsizing of Collins Correctional Facility in Erie County won’t just displace the hundreds of men and women who work there — it will upend the lives of countless families that depend on them,” said Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay of Fulton.
DOCCS said it will continue to work with the labor unions to build on ongoing efforts to aggressively recruit staff, both security and civilian, and monitor the effects the closures have on Department staffing and operations.
The total incarcerated population in state correctional facilities is 33,782 – a reduction of more than 38,900 individuals, or a 53% decline in population since the Department’s high of 72,773 in 1999.
DOCCS officials said the state has one of the lowest imprisonment rates of any large state in the nation and a recidivism rate of 18.9% which is far below the national average.
For its part, the union notes that since January 2023, the number of correction officers and sergeants, the frontline staff who perform the vast majority of daily duties has plummeted by 28 percent, while the incarcerated population has increased by 7%. Staffing levels are now at their lowest in decades.
“It is abundantly clear that if you commit to doing this extremely difficult and dangerous job, don’t expect the state of New York to commit to you,” Summers said. “Since 2009, the state has closed 27 prisons, throwing thousands of correction officers and their families into chaos forcing them to sell homes, pull children out of school, and abandon the communities they swore to serve. Year after year, Albany treats our members like line items on a budget instead of the men and women who risk their lives every day to keep these facilities running. They deserve far better than this betrayal from our governor and State Legislature. NYSCOPBA will continue to fight relentlessly for their interests and for a correctional system that is safe for staff and incarcerated individuals alike.”
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