Camp Pharsalia News

The minimum security prison in Chenango County has finally closed. For years, Camp Pharsalia barely survived proposed state prison system budget cuts.

The state Department of Correctional Service's closure of three prison camps July 1 and seven annexes Oct.

SOUTH PLYMOUTH-Camp Pharsalia has been earmarked for closure in past years, but on July 1 the minimum-security prison will officially close, eliminating 81 jobs in the Norwich area.

The fate of several prison facilities around New York may be sealed as the state Department of Correctional Services responds to budgetary constraints.

Republicans in the state Senate cut Democrats a rare break Thursday, allowing an ailing senator to vote out of turn on pieces of New York's $131.8 billion budget so she could return to a hospital.

SOUTH PLYMOUTH -The minimum-security prison Camp Pharsalia in Chenango County is one of three upstate prisons being slated for closure based on the state budget negotiated by Democratic leaders.

The state budget negotiated by New York's Democratic leaders would close three minimum security prison camps upstate and shutter a once prominent investigative agency established in the 1950s.

On most mornings here, for about as long as anyone can remember, a green minibus has arrived from the outskirts of town and discharged a crew of young men in look-alike gear: green pants and green or red sweat shirts.

"Gregory M. Hooks, a sociology professor at Washington State University, who analyzed the economies of prisons, said that among other problems, the pool of free inmate labor eliminates the pool of low-paid manual labor jobs, further depressing local economies.

A New Year, a new governor, but the same old fight, at least for NYSCOPBA, the union representing security services.

SOUTH PLYMOUTH -- An intensive campaign to fight the closure of Camp Pharsalia and three other state prison camps is being launched by the state correctional officers union.

Four prisons, including Camp Gabriels, are marked for closure in Gov. David Paterson's budget.

A Chenango County minimum-security prison is in jeopardy after Governor Paterson's proposed budget cut all funding for the facility.

Camp Pharsalia, a minimum security prison camp in Chenango County, would be closed as part of Gov.