http://www.wcax.com/story/28604950/windsor-officials-worry-about-call-to-close-prison
WINDSOR, Vt. -
A sprawling landscape surrounds the Southeast State Correctional Facility in Windsor.
"If you haven't seen this, I don't think it is what anyone would picture as a correctional facility," Windsor Town Manager Tom Marsh said. "There is almost 1,000 acres here."
About 70 of those acres are inside the prison walls. But with the facility's pending closure in 2017, the future of the buildings and all the prison's state-owned farm land is uncertain.
"Windsor isn't here to dictate state policy. That decision can be made in Montpelier," Marsh said. "But nobody is going to be more impacted by the decision to close the prison than the town of Windsor and we deserve a right to be at the table."
The House Appropriations Committee included the prison's closure in its 2016 budget plan to save the state just over $800,000. Lawmakers say the 100-bed facility can be shuttered without having to send inmates out of state. But about 60 people would lose their jobs. And how the facility would be decommissioned is something Windsor's town manager says needs to be addressed to prevent it from becoming an abandoned eyesore.
"As far as any outreach from any of the commissions or those making the decisions, I've heard nothing," Marsh said.
Longtime resident Bernie Shaban supports the closure and thinks the facility should be turned into a home for veterans who have no other place to go.
"Not only for the veterans of Vermont but for New England, too. We have six or seven prisons and only one veterans home tucked down in Bennington," Shaban said.
Whatever the future holds, Marsh says the town should have a say.
"How this facility is going to be repurposed, what the use of the land is going to be and how we can turn something that may be a negative into a real social positive," he said.
The public currently has access to a lot of the land, and Marsh says he hopes it will stay that way.
"If you haven't seen this, I don't think it is what anyone would picture as a correctional facility," Windsor Town Manager Tom Marsh said. "There is almost 1,000 acres here."
About 70 of those acres are inside the prison walls. But with the facility's pending closure in 2017, the future of the buildings and all the prison's state-owned farm land is uncertain.
"Windsor isn't here to dictate state policy. That decision can be made in Montpelier," Marsh said. "But nobody is going to be more impacted by the decision to close the prison than the town of Windsor and we deserve a right to be at the table."
The House Appropriations Committee included the prison's closure in its 2016 budget plan to save the state just over $800,000. Lawmakers say the 100-bed facility can be shuttered without having to send inmates out of state. But about 60 people would lose their jobs. And how the facility would be decommissioned is something Windsor's town manager says needs to be addressed to prevent it from becoming an abandoned eyesore.
"As far as any outreach from any of the commissions or those making the decisions, I've heard nothing," Marsh said.
Longtime resident Bernie Shaban supports the closure and thinks the facility should be turned into a home for veterans who have no other place to go.
"Not only for the veterans of Vermont but for New England, too. We have six or seven prisons and only one veterans home tucked down in Bennington," Shaban said.
Whatever the future holds, Marsh says the town should have a say.
"How this facility is going to be repurposed, what the use of the land is going to be and how we can turn something that may be a negative into a real social positive," he said.
The public currently has access to a lot of the land, and Marsh says he hopes it will stay that way.
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