state:
New York
Local history:
Closing a Prison, Deferring a Dream
What's lost when a prison closes?
Skidmore College
Exhibiting Partner:
Tang Teaching Museum, Skidmore College
815 N Broadway, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866-1632
September 2, 2017October 11, 2017

States of Incarceration is now at the Levine Museum in Charlotte, NC

States of Incarceration is extended in NC! September 23, 2023 - January 31, 2023 at the Levine Museum of the New South in Charlotte, NC!

401 S Tryon St, Charlotte, NC 28202

go to www.museumofthenewsouth.org for more information.

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New York: Closing a Prison, Deferring a Dream
What's lost when a prison closes?
Skidmore College

In 2014, as New York State’s prison population declined, state officials shuttered Mount McGregor. This medium-security correctional facility had a long history of creative rehabilitation. In the 1910s, it was a sanitarium for tubercular patients. After WWII, it welcomed convalescing veterans. In 1982, now a prison, it developed the state’s first Alcohol and Substance Abuse Treatment program. As the War on Drugs increased prison populations in the 1980s, and state politicians cut funding for carceral programs in the 1990s, teachers, counselors, and prisoners themselves empowered incarcerated men to change their lives. Programs provided incarcerated men with support to survive and thrive; ironically, many lost access to such support upon release. Mount McGregor’s closing raises questions about what prisons are for, how to treat people who remain locked up in an age of decarceration, and how to address economic in equality, racism, and other factors that condition prisoners and their communities.

Our Point of View

We are undergraduate students who knew little about prisons. We conducted interviews with formerly incarcerated men, volunteer teachers, prison officials, and other people tied to Mount McGregor to tell a personal, human story about the struggle to survive life behind bars in a medium-security prison. We hope to encourage a dialogue about the best way to help incarcerated people overcome the challenges they face behind bars and as they reenter society.

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New York: Closing a Prison, Deferring a Dream    Skidmore College
What's lost when a prison closes?
New York: Closing a Prison, Deferring a Dream
What's lost when a prison closes?
  Skidmore College

National Exhibition Venue    Tang Teaching Museum, Skidmore College

Public Dialogues and Events
| September 2 – October 11, 2017

See Full Exhibition & Events Schedule
“I grew up a few miles form McGregor. That fact has always been there. Now I fear that my friends of color will face jail time for bogus reasons. ” 
“I am let down and scared and ashamed...for we are protected but what if I lost the one I love while being protected. Two counts of life and this girl gets no Daddy. ”  — Elly, 17

Events:

Date: 
Saturday, September 2, 2017
Date: 
Friday, September 15, 2017
Date: 
Thursday, September 21, 2017
Date: 
Saturday, September 30, 2017
Date: 
Saturday, September 30, 2017
Date: 
Saturday, September 30, 2017

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