Felons can't vote, but they do, it appears, have a tremendous influence on New York State politics.
It turns out, where they live (like in a prison in Upstate New York) has some influence on how legislative districts are proportioned.
Some Downstate interests don't like the fact that NYC criminals housed in Upstate facilities get counted as Upstate residents.
There's a proposal in the State Legislature to change how prisoners are counted for legislative districting purposes.
Newsweek wrote about the issue recently.
Its prospects are good in the Democratic-controlled Assembly, but it may not get through the nearly evenly split State Senate, where seven districts, including those of two Democrats, would need to be redrawn due to insufficient population if they lost their prisoners in redistricting. The state senators from those districts contend that their constituents are absorbing a public need, not just government dollars, because the prisoners exact a toll on the surrounding areas. “Upstate communities accepted prisons for the economic benefit,” says Sen. Joe Griffo, “but there’s also other impacts, both positive and negative. The fire department, police department, and hospitals all have to respond to the prison and the inmates.”
...
Although the New York proposal, like the new law in Maryland, would affect only legislative redistricting, not state funding for social services, Griffo argues that political power always translates into government funding, so prison-heavy districts upstate have a real financial stake in preserving their claim on prisoners in redistricting. A spokesperson for Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, who sponsored the redistricting bill, characterizes that thinking as “the upstate prison-industrial complex,” protecting its own interests.
It was probably some NYC
It was probably some NYC politician's idea to build prisons upstate in the first place. If it's such a great thing, then I say they can have the prisons and their dirtbag prisoners back.
No, the state builds prisons
No, the state builds prisons in areas where the local politician beg the loudest. The thinking is create government jobs in upstate ny, bribe the people to stay, but make them more and more dependent on the govenment for their survival.
Richard, Dave, The number one
Richard, Dave,
The number one reason the prisons are upstate is cost.
You can build a complete prison upstate for the same as the cost of only the land in the NYC area.
Don,t think for a minute that except for Long Island, the downstate area does not want prisons and the jobs they bring.
However, the building days are over for now and the State is closing prisons due to a drop in inmate population.
Did you register to vote in
Did you register to vote in NY, Rich?
I understand the cost
I understand the cost differences, John. I'm just saying that NYC had a space problem and solved it by going upstate. Richard has a good point about squeaky wheels getting greased as well. Now that there is a great big fat fiscal problem, the downstate cabal wants to keep the power. I'm not one of those who want to divide the state up, but this kind of thing feeds that idea. Let's just toss 'em all out and start over. We need your vote Richard.
Who actually foots the bill
Who actually foots the bill for the inmate,what budget does the money come from? Who pays when an inmate is hospitalized outside the corrections department, and requires 24/7 guards,are those gaurds corrections employees, or are local police resources used. If the local communities where the inmates are housed absorb any of these costs,it makes for an easy answer, if the inmates sentencing districts foot the bill,its another story. Given the sad state of affairs in Albany, I'm sure getting answers to my questions would probably cost more than housing the inmate. Dave, I would rather go with your idea.