GOWANDA â Nearly 50 corrections officers stood behind state and local lawmakers at a press conference in front of the Gowanda Correctional Facility Tuesday, a day after it was announced the medium security prison would close.
Four days before Christmas, more than 510 corrections officers and another 130 civilian employees at the stateâs second-largest prison with more than 2,300 beds learned the facility would close March 31.
Two other prisons are slated for closure, the Watertown Correctional Facility and Clinton Annex at Dannemora. Around 400 more corrections officers at the two facilities are scheduled to lose their jobs.
Now is not the time to close the prison, located in southern Erie County, just north of Gowanda on Route 62, said state Sen. Patrick Galavin, who represents the 59th Senate District, which includes the prison.