Judge Reserves Decision on Butler

Jeremy Houghtaling | Wayuga Contributing Writer
Tuesday, June 16 2009

LYONS  -- The fate of Butler Minimum Correctional Facility was debated in Wayne County Court on Tuesday.
County Judge John B. Nesbitt has to first decide whether or not to keep the case in Wayne County, where the correctional facility is, or move it to Albany where state attorneys would like it to be. Nesbitt heard arguments in the matter June 16.
Nesbitt also must then decide whether to keep the temporary restraining order on the closing of the minimum security side of Butler facility.  He said his decision would come within the next two weeks.
“We’re still in limbo,” said Tim Casper, the chief union steward for the New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association at Butler Minimum.  “It might be too late by the time the decision is made.”
Many inmates have already been moved, and many officers have begun arrangements to be transferred.  NYSCOPBA fears more stalling would lead to fewer officers and inmates, and more incentive for the facility to be shut down.
The medium security side will remain in operation.
The attorney for the guard’s unions argued that the minimum and medium security facilities are separate, so New York state must give their employees a one-year notice of their closing.  The first letter announcing the closing came April 14 as part of Gov. David Paterson’s plan to cut the state budget.
The lawyer for the Department of Corrections argued that the minimum side of Butler is just a part of the whole Butler facility, and is an annex that they can close without giving employees a year.
The minimum-security side of the Butler Correctional Facility and six other prison annexes in rural areas are scheduled to close Oct. 1 as the state struggles to make cost-cutting decisions to cope with the budget crisis.
 NYSCOPBA, which represents more than 23,000 security services employees, was pursuing legal action against the state to keep Butler open.

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