On March 10, 2022, Downstate Correctional Facility was permanently closed, due to a declining prison population in New York state. The state estimated that the closure would result in a savings of $142 million.[3][4] The staff and inmates were transferred to other facilities within the system.
In December 2022, the New York State Prison Redevelopment Commission discussed plans to market and redevelop the site, along with other New York prisons closed in recent years.[5]
Description
Along with Elmira Correctional Facility and Bedford Hills Correctional Facility (women), Downstate served primarily as a classification and reception facility for new inmates entering the New York State prison system. New inmates typically waited at Downstate for a few weeks before they were assigned to a permanent facility. The "permanent" prisoners—those who worked in the kitchens, laundry, etc., which those in transit could not do—were referred to as the "cadre" and were all maximum-security prisoners, with sentences of at minimum seven years.
Cells in Downstate were organized into four wings around a large and exactly square room called The Square, which was the junction point for the four wings and contained a staffed waiting room. Inmate movement was scheduled and tightly controlled. An inmate who required medical attention had to be escorted to the infirmary by an officer. Shower opportunities were also scheduled.
Services such as reception, clothes, pharmacy, medical, commissary, chapel, mail, packages, visiting, and cafeteria were all centrally located, but there were small libraries in each of the wings. There was a professional librarian, who supervised cadre workers at two locations, and a part-time rabbi. Library visits were short, scheduled, and in groups. There were dropboxes in the wings where prisoners being moved out of the facility, as most soon were after arrival, could deposit any library books that they had checked out.
For many years, there was a softball field outside the prison building, used mainly by the cadre. Recreation could consist of an hour in a room with twenty other inmates and a television.
