Ritchie to Host Special Meeting on Jail Overcrowding

Corrections Committee Chair Sen. Michael Nozzolio, Sheriffs to Attend

Local and state leaders will join State Senator Patty Ritchie for a special meeting to address the issue of jail overcrowding on Monday October 15^th at 12:00 p.m. in her Watertown office, located at the Dulles State Office Building on Washington Street. 

Crime Victims, Crime and Corrections Chair Senator Michael Nozzolio, and sheriffs from Jefferson, St. Lawrence and Oswego Counties will attend; and will be available following the meeting, at approximately 12:45 p.m. for media interviews. 

The meeting stems from an effort spearheaded by Senator Ritchie to provide additional mandate relief for local taxpayers by addressing the problem of state prisoners being held in local county jails.

The Senator recently wrote to the Commissioner of Corrections and Community Supervision to ask that he use under-filled state prisons—such as the Watertown Correctional Facility at Dry Hill—to hold state parole violators currently being housed in crowded county jails. You can click here to read the letter.    

According to sheriffs in Oswego, Jefferson and St. Lawrence Counties, holding state prisoners in local facilities is costing taxpayers more than $2 million per year. 

Senator Ritchie has raised the parole violator issue before, and has introduced legislation to alleviate the problem, which has passed twice in the Senate.  You can read more about the legislation here.