School Buses Allowed To Pass Through Fishkill Correctional Facility - Thanks To Assemblyman Jacobson's Negotiations

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When the Fishkill Correctional Facility first told the Beacon City School District that it would be partially closing their portion of Matteawan Road to the public, that included school buses of the Beacon City School District (BCSD). There are 6 schools in the district, where kids as young as Pre-K can go to Glenham elementary but live in the South Avenue Elementary district, as well as middle schoolers and high schoolers living in the far corners of Beacon when it bleeds into Fishkill or Glenham. That road was a pass-through, and without it, major re-routes would need to take place, which could lead to delays in afternoon drop-offs and morning pickups.

Assemblyman Jonathan Jacobson, whose district includes Dutchess County (Beacon, Fishkill, etc.) and Orange County (Newburgh) was in contact with Department Of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) immediately after Beacon’s City Administrator Chris White and BCSD’s Superintendent Matt Landahl were notified by DOCCS of the closure in two weeks time.

Said Assemblyman Jacobson’s office to A Little Beacon Blog: “We facilitated an agreement to allow school buses to continue using the DOCCS-owned stretch of Matteawan. We believe that the exemption is permanent.”

As to to the reason for the closure, Assemblyman Jacobson’s office elaborated: “Our understanding is that there have been numerous trespasses, which triggered the Fishkill Correctional Superintendent to order the closure. The land has technically always been closed off to public access, but DOCCS did not have the budget to post someone there to guard the road. We don't have any documented info on when the guard was pulled from that duty, but think it was at least 5 years ago. Traffic being what it is in Beacon, folks just started using that road more and more. We understand that new signage was posted 1-1/2 years ago saying that it's private property, but folks just ignored it.”

Video Of The Drive On Matteawan Road Past Fishkill Correctional Facility That Is Partially Closed Now - The Experience

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As of November 1, 2021, the Fishkill Correctional Facility partially closed their part of Matteawan Road between the Beacon High School and Business Route 52, seemingly without defining their reason to either the City of Beacon or the Beacon City School District (BCSD), as indicated by Beacon’s City Administrator, Chris White, during the 10/25/2021 City Council Workshop Meeting when he stated that the City was not informed of the partial closure until October 18, 2021, and in the City of Beacon’s Resolution urging reconsideration of the partial closure until solutions are found. The story was first reported on here.

He also stated during the 11/1/2021 City Council Meeting that the City was not informed that the Beacon City School District buses succeeded in becoming exempt from the closure, and could continue their routes. Some in the community who are district families learned that news from the school district’s Superintendent Matt Landahl, as he robo-emailed/texted families to remind them of the new change in the partial road closure.

Over the course of this developing story, Beaconites of various ages have chimed in in social media to say that they remember the road being partially closed in years past by guards, who either restricted access, or asked for identifying information of drivers.

Pedestrians who walk, hike or jog through these grounds note the beauty - despite the fact that it is a correctional facility with personal struggles and achievements going on behind the tall walls and barbed wire. Pedestrians have usually been told to leave the property, sometimes much to their chagrin (or odd excitement…again…despite that the property is a correctional facility).

So that everyone can know or remember what the route looks and drives like, A Little Beacon Blog took a drive down the pass-through before it closed to the public. As Beacon’s City Administrator stated during a City Council Meeting and in Beacon’s Resolution, Matteawan Road is owned by 3 entities: DOCCS (New York State Department Of Corrections and Community Supervision), the City of Beacon, and the Town of Fishkill (where Matteawan Road intersects with Business Route 52 and is called Prospect Street.

The speed limit on this section of the road is 30 mph. The vehicle in this video is driving 20 mph, because anything higher felt too fast. Certainly a civilian car was tailing the vehicle for going under the speed limit, as people who drive in Beacon tend to be impatient.

The intersection where Matteawan Road becomes Prospect Street at Business Route 52 is a very tight turn right, and a Hope-I-Don’t-Die turn when turning left. Just a few weeks ago, there was an accident near that intersection. With so many parents and buses picking up and dropping off, in addition to a shift change for the Correctional Facility at around 3pm, chances for an accident increase no matter if public traffic is decreased on Prospect Street or not. The regular driving on Business Route 52 is too fast and consistent for that angle of a turn, as it is a business route. Turning in either direction is a risk, as it is not often that there is a break in traffic.

A red/green traffic light may help that intersection no matter if the road remains partially closed or not.

City of Beacon Urges Reconsideration of Partial Matteawan Road Closure By Fishkill Correctional Facility

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The week that the Beacon City School District announced to families that the part of Matteawan Road that passes through the Fishkill Correctional Facility after the Beacon High School, and intersects with Business Route 52 (at which point, it is called Prospect Street), would be closed to the public on November 1, 2021, the The City of Beacon’s Administrator Chris White announced at a public City Council Workshop Meeting (at 1:19:00) that the City strongly urged the Fishkill Correctional Facility to reconsider the partial road closure, to start a dialogue to form a better plan, and to support Assemblyman Jacobson’s efforts to allow school bus routes at the very least until solutions could be found.

According to Administrator Chris, the City of Beacon was first informed on October 18, 2021 by the Superintendent of the Fishkill Correctional Facility that the part of Matteawan Road passing the facility would be closed to the public on November 1, 2021. In response, Administrator Chris prepared a resolution of the City’s urging of a reconsideration.

The proposed resolution to be signed during tonight’s public City Council Meeting can be found here. Today, November 1, 2021, which is the start of the partial road closure to the public, Beacon City School’s Superintendent Landahl sent a notice to district families that buses will continue running through Mattweawan Road near the Fishkill Correctional Facility, but reminded families that that part of the road is closed to the public. There has been no announcement to Beacon residents of the road block via robo-call, text, or website posting, other than the mention of it during last week’s City Council Meeting.

In providing context for Beacon’s position on the closure, Administrator Chris stated:

“Mattawean Road runs through the City of Beacon and the Town of Fishkill. It goes past the Fishkill Correctional Facility. The Town owns a piece of the road near Prospect Street that feeds in. Then the prison owns a large part of it, and then the City owns the rest of it.

“We had heard rumors from the School District that the Fishkill Correctional Facility was going to close that road as of November 1st. We only received a call on October 18th, which was the first official notification that the City was given, that the road was going to be closed permanently in less than 2 weeks.

“We have been in touch with Superintendent and our state representatives. I know that Assemblyman Jacobson's office is working diligently to try to exempt buses which would be severely disrupted if that closed. We thought we would support - I put this together because I thought it important to support our state delegation's effort to delay the implementation of this so we can do some planning, to exempt buses at the very least, and to begin a real dialogue between the Town of Fishkill, Beacon City School District, and the City of Beacon.

“There has been no planning or traffic modeling to look at what the impacts were. I would say this strongly recognizes their right and their necessity to secure their facility. Nobody is questing that. The way that we do it, though, is important. We think we can thread that needle so that it's not as disruptive to the traffic going into Rombout and the High School.”

Covered In The Proposed Resolution

Included in the City of Beacon’s Resolution, spearheaded by Administrator Chris, is the point that, for years, “Matteawan Road serves as a connection between the Town of Fishkill and the City of Beacon and is an important street access from Fishkill Avenue to the Beacon High School and Rombout Middle School.” In response ALBB’s article announcing this partial road closure last week, former City Councilperson Ali T. Muhammad, who grew up walking to Beacon school in that area, recalled when that part of the road was temporarily closed: “Grew up there, sounds awful. Last time it was shut down was due to 9/11. Good luck.”

The resolution points out that the closure to the public is “during the daytime.” The resolution makes sure to state the City of Beacon’s dissatisfaction with not being consulted by the Fishkill Correctional Facility prior to their decision: “City of Beacon recognizes the necessity and right of DOCCS and the Fishkill Correctional Facility to secure their grounds, including this section of road, the City is concerned that it and other major stakeholders, including the Beacon City School District, were not consulted on the closure and received insufficient notice to allow for traffic safety modifications and adjustment that might need to be implemented as a result of the change to traffic patterns in and around Matteawan Road.”

The City of Beacon cited concern for where traffic would increase due to the partial closure of Mattawean Road, stating that it “would create traffic and pedestrian safety issues at key intersections in the City of Beacon, including Verplanck Avenue and Matteawan Road, Wilkes Street and Matteawan Road, and at access roads through Memorial Park, which now may be used as a cut-through for motorists.”

The resolution pointed out the effort required to properly answer the partial road closure: “Any adjustments to the traffic control signage in the area will take the City a period of at least several months to assess needed modification and adopt revisions to the City Code for such modifications, which require a public hearing and adoption of a local law amending the City Code, and the City received less than two weeks’ notice of the impending partial road closure without any prior traffic safety planning by the Facility or coordination with the City.”

The City of Beacon is asking for a pausing of the partial road closure, and a commitment to work together on solutions moving forward “with a immediate establishment of a working committee to coordinate with Fishkill Correctional Facility on this matter, including the following key stakeholders: the City of Beacon, Town Town of Fishkill, and Beacon City School District in order to consider potential alternatives, and if necessary, properly plan for the impact that a partial closure of Matteawan Road would create.

Beacon’s resolution would then be sent to Governor Kathy Hochul, State Senator Sue Serino, Assemblymember Jonathan Jacobson, DOCCS Acting Commissioner Anthony Annucci, and Fishkill Correctional Facility Superintendent Edward Burnett.

Unnamed Prisoner Graves and New Release Of Inmates Meeting A Certain Set Of Criteria

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Two yesterdays ago, on April 16, 2020, Beacon Prison Action sent a press release regarding multiple new unmarked graves being dug at the Fishkill Correctional Facility. Beacon Prison Action consists of c​ommunity members in the Beacon/Fishkill/Newburgh area, and is most active through the Beacon Prison Rides Project and the Beacon Prison Books Project (run closely with Binnacle Books).

The graveyard that sits near the Fishkill Correctional Facility is located through the woods beyond the Willow Loop, and behind Beacon High School.

Beacon Prison Action submitted photos of “multiple” fresh graves taken Wednesday morning (April 15, 2020). According to the press release: “Four gravestones are without identifying markers, leaving these recent casualties unnamed. A new grave, between two more markers, has yet to be filled.”

A Little Beacon Blog is pursuing information about the protocol for how it is determined for a prisoner to be buried there. If you have information, please see below.

The Prison Population By Numbers And COVID-19 Positive

According to Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS): “The New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, guided by the Departmental Mission, is responsible for the confinement and rehabilitation with under 42,000 individuals under custody held at 52 state facilities and supervision of over 35,000 parolees throughout seven regional offices statewide.”

According to the USA Today Network’s Democrat and Chronicle, “New York has approximately 43,000 incarcerated individuals and 29,000 employees at its 52 state-level facilities, according to the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.”

According to the DOCCS COVID-19 Confirmed page, the following COVID-19 statuses have been reported:

DOCCS COVID-10 Confirmed Cases
Staff Incarcerated Population Parolees
753 204* 29
*Of these confirmed cases, 49 are now recovered and out of isolation.

DOCCS COVID-19 Confirmed Deaths
Staff Incarcerated Population Parolees
1 5 4

New Release Of Inmates Over Age Of 55, Who Are Eligible For Release In 90 Days, No Violent Felonies, No Sexual Assault

Beacon Prison Action, as well as other groups including the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) on March 20, 2020, have made requests of how inmates could avoid infection.

Since then, Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) has approved the release of inmates meeting different sets of requirements, which was confirmed by Melissa DeRosa, Secretary to Governor Cuomo during today’s (4/18/2020) briefing when asked about it by a reporter (see minute 31).

DeRosa confirmed that inmates who are over the age of 55, who are eligible for release within 90 days, who have not committed violent felonies or sexual assault offense, and who do not pose a threat to society can be released. DeRosa estimated the number of inmates that fit this specific criteria to be around 200 people, and confirmed it would be a “rolling release” throughout this “current emergency.”

Additional Types Of Inmates Who Have Been Approved For Release

This is not the first set of requirements that have been created so that some inmates can be offered early release due to COVID-19. According to PrisonPolicy.org:

  • A judge in the Bronx approved the release of 51 people jailed for alleged parole violations on Rikers Island in New York City. (April 13)

  • 65 people have been released early from the Westchester County Jail in Valhalla, New York, following discussions between the District Attorney and the Legal Aid Society of Westchester. (April 13)

  • District attorneys in Brooklyn, New York, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have taken steps to reduce jail admissions by releasing people charged with nonviolent offenses and not actively prosecuting low-level, non-violent offenses. (March 17 and March 18)

  • In New York state, all in-person parole visits have been suspended and replaced with telephone call, text message, and video call check-ins. (March 20). Details from TimesUnion: “As new cases and deaths from COVID-19 increased, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Friday ordered non-essential construction projects to stop, and a state agency told parole officers that 1,100 parole violators who are being held in jails and prisons across New York will be released.

  • New York City has released 200 people from Rikers Island in the past week, and expects to release another 175 people before the weekend. (March 26)

  • In New York, Gov. Cuomo announced that up to 1,100 people who are being held in jails and prisons across the state may be released with community supervision. (March 27)

Early prison release is being addressed at the national level. You can read about Attorney General William Barr’s directive here at The New York Times. A clip: “Attorney General William P. Barr ordered the Bureau of Prisons on Friday (April 3, 2020) to expand the group of federal inmates eligible for early release and to prioritize those at three facilities where known coronavirus cases have grown precipitously, as the virus threatens to overwhelm prison medical facilities and nearby hospitals.”

Inmates With Dementia and Alzheimer’s

Beacon Prison Action also highlighted inmates who have dementia and Alzheimer’s. From their press release: “Fishkill prison itself has a special Long-Term Care unit for people with serious health conditions, as well as a Unit for the Cognitively Impaired, largely serving elderly prisoners suffering from Alzheimer’s and dementia. In their last report on this prison, the Correctional Association of New York concluded, “[Our visit to this unit] reinforced the costly, cruel, and nonsensical policy of continued incarceration of people who are so physically and/or cognitively impaired that they pose no safety risk to the community and for whom there no longer remains any justifiable reason to keep them in prison.” (​Fishkill Correctional Facility 2012​ ​by the Correctional Association of New York).

Graves With No Names At Fishkill Correctional Facility

Back to the graves in Beacon, and why some markers have no names. According to Beacon’s most referenced book, “Beacon Revisited” by Robert J. Murphy and Denise Doring VanBuren, the graveyard is known as the Cemetery of Convicts, 1985. From the book: “At the edge of a stand of tall evergreens not far from Beacon’s new high school lies the state-owned cemetery wherein hundreds of unknown men and women are buried. Between the opening of the Matteawan State Hospital (then the Asylum for the Criminally Insane) in 1892, its closing in 1977, and its transformation into Fishkill Correctional Facility, about 1,800 inmates and patients were buried in the remote corner of the prison’s grounds. Today, only numbered stones mark the graves of these unfortunates.”

A Little Beacon Blog has questions and is in pursuit of the bigger picture. If you know the answer and you are an official, please comment below or email us at editorial@alittlebeaconblog.com. We are looking for answers to the following questions:

  • Do all of the graves state no names?

  • When a prisoner dies while incarcerated, what is the protocol? Are they buried there? Or are they sent to their family? Or if they have no next of kin, buried there? The DOCCS Handbook for Families and Friends is here, but doesn’t seem to mention it.

  • Why would new burials have no name on the marker? The prison system knows the name of the individual, but why would a name not be placed on a grave?

  • Are prisoners from all over New York state sent here to be buried, or just those in Fishkill Correctional Facility?