Inmate Numbers At OCF To Rise

State Sen. Darrel J. Aubertine visited members of the union representing Ogdensburg Correctional Facility to quell concerns about the prison's dropping inmate population.

Just seconds into his talk, Sen. Aubertine's phone rang. When he hung up after a few minutes of listening, he told the roughly 20 attendees that it was Brian Fischer, commissioner of the state Department of Correctional Services, with promises to bring more corrections officers and 150 more inmates to the prison in the next few months.

"The commissioner just assured me that the numbers are going to go back up," Sen. Aubertine said.

A representative at the Department of Correctional Services could not be reached for comment.

Chad J. Stickney, the sector chief of the New York State Correctional Officer and Police Benevolent Association, said the news was welcome.

"We need to know what's happening with the facility," he said.

Concerns that the facility would close were misplaced, Sen. Aubertine said.

"This running around by elected officials screaming from the rooftops that the sky is falling, that's not helpful," Sen. Aubertine said. "Now, do we need to look into the numbers? Yes. Should we have more officers up here? Yes. And I think if you want to believe the commissioner or not, he just called and told us the facts."

Two leading candidates for governor, Democrat Andrew M. Cuomo and Republican Rick Lazio, have pledged to keep the facility open, Sen. Aubertine noted. The Department of Correctional Services reversed a January order to close the facility in June, and won't close the facility for the rest of Gov. David A. Paterson's term, which ends at the end of the year. And by law, the department must give a year notice before closing a facility.

So the decline was not a sign of imminent doom, Sen. Aubertine said, but rather due to preparations for the facility's closure and because other facilities were better suited to deal with prisoners with special needs.

That decline continued, however, even after the closure order was rescinded. Employees at the facility worried that the decline was a sign that it would become harder to justify keeping the prison open when the next closure orders come, with fewer and fewer prisoners.

What made the situation worse, prison officials said, was that they weren't getting any answers.

Sen. Aubertine brought those answers Wednesday afternoon. It was not a cure-all for the worry that has rocked the facility since it was put on a closure list in January. Several of the union members who filed into the ballroom of the Ogdensburg Elks Club on Caroline Street wore shirts that read, "Thank you for saving Ogdensburg Correctional Facility," a reminder of the six-month battle to keep the prison open.

"There will never be a sense of relief after we were on the chopping block," Mr. Stickney said.