New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said he has a new plan to expand college education programs in the state's prisons. The plan is part of a slate of criminal justice reforms he unveiled yesterday at a church service in Harlem.
Two years ago, Cuomo floated the idea of restoring government funded college programs in state prisons that were eliminated in the 1990s. That idea was shot down by Republicans in the state Senate. This time, he said the state will pay for the program using $7.5 million dollars in criminal forfeiture money collected by Manhattan’s district attorney’s office. Cuomo said that doesn’t need the legislature’s approval.
"We have colleagues in Albany who aren’t ready to do that and don't want to pay for those programs," he said. "So you can tell me no. I just find another way to get there, that's all."
The program would serve roughly a thousand inmates – a small portion of the 52,000 prisoners now in state prisons. Cuomo spoke at the Mount Neboh Baptist Church in Harlem on Sunday. He blasted New York’s system of correctional facilities, which he described as failed institutions.
"I'm going to go down in the history books as the governor who closed the most prisons in the history of the state of New York and I am proud of it," he said. "I want to close more prisons with more alternatives to incarceration."
Since taking office Cuomo has closed thirteen correctional facilities statewide, as the inmate population has dropped to its lowest level in decades.