the sentencing project has released a new report, written by nicole d. porter, director of advocacy, entitled repurposing: new beginnings for closed prisons. porter found 22 states have eliminated or are on pace to eliminate about 48,000 prison beds in state prisons and juvenile facilities.
the opportunity to downsize prison bed space has been spurred by declines in state prison populations, as well as increasing challenges for managing older facilities. reduced capacity has created the opportunity to repurpose closed prisons for various reasons.
the report has tracked announced closures of prisons since 2011. porter learned states have reduced their corrections costs by an estimated $333 million and have developed a wide range of ways - some profitable and others community-centered - to repurpose prison buildings and facilities.
other prison conversions taking place, include:
a medium-security state prison in new york's staten island was sold to a company investing $20 million into the creation of a movie studio. this investment is projected to create about 1,500 jobs over a five-year period.
brushy mountain state penitentiary in tennessee is becoming a distillery, restaurant and tourist facility which offers camp grounds and horse trails. the maximum security prison once held james earl ray, who assassinated rev. dr. martin luther king, jr in 1968.
city commissioners in gainesville, florida converted a close prison into a nonprofit one-stop homeless center which offers job training.
i am
- mark j. tuggle
- harlem, usa
- same-gender-loving contemporary descendant of enslaved africans. community activist, feminist, health educator, independent filmmaker, mentor, playwright, poet & spiritual being. featured at, in & on africana.com, afrikan poetry theatre, angel herald, bejata dot com, bet tonight with tavis smiley, blacklight online, black noir, brooklyn moon cafe, gmhc's barbershop, klmo-fm, lgbt community services center, longmoor productions, nuyorican poets cafe, our corner, poz, pulse, rolling out new york, rush arts gallery, saint veronica's church, schomburg center for research in black culture, sexplorations, the citizen, the new york times, the soundz bar, the trenton times, the village voice, upn news, uzuri, venus, vibe, wbai-fm, wnyc-fm & wqht-fm. volunteered with adodi, bailey house, inc., black men's xchange-new york, colorofchange.org, drug policy alliance, east harlem tutorial program, imagenation film & music festival, presente.org, save darfur coalition, the enough project, the osborne association, the sledge group & your black world. worked on films with maurice jamal & heather murphy. writing student of phil bertelsen & ed bullins. mjt975@msn.com.
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