Heat on Kat for prisons closure

Republicans in Albany blasted Gov. Hochul as soft on crime a day after she released a budget proposal that included proposals to shutter up to five correctional facilities.

GOP senators also said Hochul’s idea to tackle retail theft with special “task forces” did not go far enough as they laid out Republican priorities for the state’s legislative session Wednesday morning.

“Our colleagues continue to stick their heads in the sand when it comes to crime,” GOP Minority Leader Rob Ortt said.

Hochul laid out plans to use $40 million to set up task forces of state police and district attorneys meant to focus on stopping and prosecuting retail theft.

“They have created the conditions that retail theft has spiked and now their answer to that is a task force,” Ortt said. “This task force will produce paper and not results.”

Groups representing grocery stores were quick to react, saying Hochul’s plan doesn’t do enough to support local cops.

“We’d like to see more money go to local police forces,” said Nelson Eusabio, from the National Supermarket Association and the Collective Action to Protect Our Stores (CAP) coalition. “I don’t see state troopers dealing with shoplifting in local communities. She’s going in the wrong direction.”

Ortt and Republicans criticized the proposed prison closures.

“They don’t think anyone should be in prison, so no doubt closing prisons is always going to seem like a good idea to them, and if they could close them all I’m sure they would,” Ortt said.

While no specific facilities were named, Hochul’s budget chief told reporters that the decision would be left up to the director of the state Corrections Department. Under the governor’s plan, the facilities would receive a 90-day notice before shutting down.

Democrats who spoke with The Post backed Hochul.

“I think that’s right,” Assemblyman Harvey Epstein told The Post. “Crime is down, incarcerations are down, so that’s a good policy.”

“It’s just not good economic development or use of taxpayer dollars,” state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal said of prisons.