Six correctional facilities in upstate New York were closing Thursday as the number of inmates drops across the state prison system.
The closings announced in November were expected to save $142 million.
The facilities scheduled to close at the end of the business day were: Ogdensburg Correctional Facility, Moriah Shock Incarceration Correctional Facility, Willard Drug Treatment Campus, Southport Correctional Facility, Downstate Correctional Facility and Rochester Correctional Facility.
More than 1,700 people worked at facilities and there were more than 1,400 inmates.
The state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision said inmates were transferred to other facilities and that officials worked to find jobs for employees at other facilities or other state agencies. The department said some workers declined new positions, but did not immediately say how many.
The governor was authorized by the Legislature last year to close state prisons amid a long-term drop in inmates. There are currently 30,580 inmates in state correctional facilities, down from a system-wide high of 72,773 in 1999.