Slammer Sale: States find closed prisons can be a tough sell
ALBANY, N.Y. — Perched atop an Adirondack mountain, the 325-acre site for sale seems to have everything a developer could want: spectacular views, a man-made lake, close proximity to the tourist destination of Saratoga Springs and, oh, former President Ulysses S. Grant lived out his final days in a home next door.
But the property on Mount McGregor was also a former New York state prison, and if history is any guide, it will be a tough sell.
States have found out the hard way that stunning views and good locations are not enough to overcome the baggage that comes with former prison sites. Massive, thick-walled cell blocks, dormitories and infirmaries tend to be too expensive to tear down, and too restrictive to turn into viable enterprises.
Nationwide, at least 22 states have closed or announced plans to close 94 state prisons and juvenile facilities since 2011, and only a handful have been sold or repurposed, according to a December report by The Sentencing Project, a Washington, D.C.-based criminal justice reforms advocacy group.