Inmates forced out from closing county jail
CATSKILL, N.Y. » Greene County Sheriff Greg Seeley said Saturday he has ordered the last remaining inmates at the Greene County Jail out of the facility and into other facilities in Ulster and Columbia counties.
Seeley said deteriorating conditions at the 80 West Bridge St. facility, which is part of the Green County Sheriff’s Office building, has worsened to the point that it has become unsafe to occupy. Seeley described conditions as “extremely hazardous.”
He said the decision was made after he and members of the Greene County Legislature received a verbal report of building conditions from a structural engineering firm.
“Basically, the building is falling down around us,” Seeley said, referring to the 110-year-old complex. “It is getting worse, and worse and worse.”
Essentially, the jail was closed to protect staff, corrections officers, and inmates from harm, Seeley said.
“It was time,” Seeley said. “I didn’t want to do this, but it was time to do this.”
In its place, Seeley said, a new jail facility, to include the Greene County Sheriff’s Office, should be built on 50 acres identified for such a facility in Coxsackie. He estimated the cost of such a facility would be between $45 and $50 million.
Seeley said the West Bridge Street facility should be razed and turned into a parking lot for users of the Greene County Courthouse, adjacent to the old facility.
Seeley said 20 inmates were shifted out of the jail late last week to facilities in Ulster and Columbia counties. That is in addition to the more than 30 inmates already being boarded in the Columbia County Jail.
Seeley said it is costing Greene County taxpayers “millions” a year to board inmates elsewhere.
“We need a new facility,” he said.