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Don't let towns profit from having prisons
Published in the Poughkeepsie Journal (Poughkeepsie, NY) April 9, 2003
Correction:
Based on a more advanced understanding of how government funds are distributed, this article would be written very differently today. In particular, the funds being claimed by Fishkill and Beacon are county sales taxes raised in that county and intended to be spent for the betterment of that county. The legitimate recipient of those funds is not New York City but every town in Dutchess County that collects sales tax but doesn't have a huge state prison to inflate their population.
Correcting how the census counts prisoners would not impact New York City's budget but it would protect the other communities in Dutchess from Fishkill and Beacon's extra claim on their tax money. See this explanation: Financial burden of how prisoners counted in Census falls on rural - not urban - communities.
-Peter Wagner, 2005
You reported that Fishkill's supervisor wants the Census Bureau to credit the town with the 2,256 prisoners in the Fishkill Correctional Facility. While the prison property is in both Fishkill and Beacon, the census counted the prisoners in Fishkill, although the cells are apparently in Beacon.
In February, the Census Bureau corrected the mistake and transferred the prisoner count to Beacon. An estimated $85,000 in annual county sales tax income would go to Fishkill if the prisoners are located there, plus additional state and federal aid.
While it is understandable that Fishkill would be tempted to cover its budget deficit by any legal means necessary, looking to prisoners for economic salvation raises broader questions for state and national policymakers. Instead of allocating the population to either Fishkill or Beacon, shouldn't these funds go to the communities that the prisoners came from and to which they will eventually return?
Few of the prisoners at the facility originate among the 31,810 residents of Fishkill and Beacon. According to state Department of Correctional Services data, 87.8 percent of the facility's prisoners are from urban and suburban New York City, 65 miles away.
To prevent crime, New York would be well served to proportionately fund educational and community resources in the communities prisoners come from. Allocating government funds based on population makes sense, but only if everyone is counted in the right place: at home.
Peter Wagner, Assistant Director, Prison Policy Initiative,
Springfield, Mass.
Recommended Reading:
50 state incarceration profiles
All of our recent reports about prison/jail growth, racial disparities, and more, re-organized by state.
The rapid & unregulated growth of e-messaging in prisons
It can strengthen connections, but instead has been used to sap money from incarcerated people.
Incarceration and supervision by states
Probation and parole are the leading forms of mass punishment in America.
Prison Gerrymandering Project
We are leading the movement to protect our democracy from the Census Bureau's prison miscount.
Events
- July 1, 2026:
On July 1, 2026 at 1 p.m. EST, join the Prison Policy Initiative and guests Jodi Hocking, Executive Director of Return Strong Nevada, and Taj Mahon-Haft PhD, Director of The Humanization Project, as they discuss the importance of family connections, highlight the ways they are under attack, and share strategies to help families fight back.
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