A new prison for Rome

ROME--Does crime pay? Perhaps not for criminals. Yet a growing number of New York state municipalities apparently see prisons as 21st-century gold mines.

That's why some Rome executives are pushing area legislators to bring a maximum-security prison to job-starved Rome and Oneida County. Gov. George Pataki has allocated $5 million in this year's proposed state budget to construct three new maximum-security prisons.

"The economic impact (of a new prison) cannot be ignored," said Rome Chamber of Commerce president Robert Van Slyke in a presentation to the Rome Common Council on March 13. "There are 700 to 900 new jobs. There is a payroll of $25.4 million to $432.6 million. There is an annual economic impact of $28.6 million. There will be a construction project with a value of $90 million."

Van Slyke also released the results of a survey conducted in January and February by a Chamber committee and concluded, "they searched diligently for the positive and negative effects of a new prison...(but) no documented negative effects were found."

Following his presentation, the Rome Common Council listened to comments from the public, then voted 6-1 in favor of a resolution asking its local political leaders to "intercede in Albany" to secure a new prison in Rome.

Sen. Nancy Larraine Hoffmann, whose district covers a portion of Rome, was the first area politician to suggest Rome as a site for a future prison. Rome's Democratic Assemblywoman RoAnn Destito and Republican Assemblyman David Townsend have also indicated they approve of the prison proposal.

Rome Mayor Joe Griffo, however, is standing on the sidelines. The Chamber of Commerce report said Griffo "was asked to give an explanation for his objection to the location of the prison." But he told The Business Journal he is not opposed to the prison, but rather he is uncertain it can be beneficial.

"I respect the will of the people in the community," said Griffo. "And I encourage all those individuals who have an opinion for or against to communicate with their officials and present their perspectives."

Some Rome residents fear the prison will increase the crime rate, lower property values, encourage inmates and their families to live nearby, contribute to welfare costs, and discourage new retailers.

"Last December when the Chamber of Commerce began its survey, I was unconvinced of the need for an additional prison," Griffo added. "We certainly want to encourage economic diversification...but basically, the position I'm taking is that this community has a right to self-determination."

The Oneida County Board of Legislators voted 24-4 on Tuesday, April 9 to support the effort to bring a prison to Rome. The Rome and Utica chambers of commerce have passed similar resolutions.

The U.S. Census Bureau estimated that Oneida County lost 600 residents from 1994 to 1995. Rome lost 5,000 jobs last year with the closing of Griffiss Air Force Base. In the fall of 1995, Lockheed Martin started draining nearly 1,000 employee from Utica. And Chicago Pneumatic Tool Co., located on Utica's eastern border with Herkimer County, will be taking 430 jobs and uprooting to North Carolina later this year.

Oneida County houses four prisons at the present, including the minimum-security Oneida Correctional and Mohawk Correctional facilities south of Rome. The Rome supporters want the new prison to be constructed on the same campus, which is on state land. Each of the state's three new prisons would house 1,500 prisoners.

Two prisons in Marcy, outside Utica, are located a half-mile from the Wal-Mart Distribution Center. Van Slyke cited that as an example that developers are not scared off by the proximity of prisons.

The Department of Corrections employs 2,612 at the four facilities, and 480 of those employees live in greater Rome. The Chamber committee believes the new prison would mean a well-educated, highly-trained, high-paying work force, a pollution-free industry and nearly "recession-proof" jobs. Its report found that the average yearly salary for a correctional employee is $36,271.

Van Slyke tried to deflect criticism from the public with statistics from the survey indicating that communities with prisons have a 15- to 20-percent lower crime rate than comparable communities without prisons.

"Since 1990, crime has grown less, on average, in Oneida County than similar counties," he said. The survey compared the crime rate per 100,000 in Oneida County with similar-sized populations in counties without prison populations, Albany, Broome, and Niagara, in 1992 and 1994.

Albany showed the biggest increase in crime (15.2 percent) in those two years, followed by Oneida (5.1) and Broome (4.4), with Niagara showing a 1.2-percent decrease. The average increase was 6.4 percent. The statistics were compiled in 1992 and 1994 by the Herkimer-Oneida Counties Comprehensive Planning Program.

The detailed, 12-page ad-hoc prison-committee report also included interviews with the two superintendents of the Rome prisons, Oneida County District Attorney Michael Arcuri, and Peter W. Phillips, Ph.D., chairman of the Criminal Justice Department at Utica College, all of whom believe prisons don't negatively impact local communities. The superintendents were not "advocates" for the new prison, the committee explained, but were asked to provide background information.

In addition, the committee compiled national studies about the nondetrimental effect of prisons on communities in Florida, Wisconsin, California, and Alabama The committee has forwarded its report to Gov. Pataki.

Mayor Griffo pointed out, however, "New York state has not even asked for any formal proposals yet, and we have no guarantee that the (state) Legislature will approve of the sites."

Romulus, a town in western New York, is also considering applying for a prison.

Copyright Central New York Business Journal Apr 29, 1996
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