In New York City, some of the most vulnerable incarcerated people will now have dedicated hospital beds and access to medical care like never before. Earlier this month, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the opening of the city’s first Outposted Therapeutic Housing Unit for incarcerated people at Rikers Island, with two more clinical facilities on the way. It’s part of a larger plan to shut down the infamous Rikers, and another win for the national movement against the prison industrial complex.
Mamdani and the activists and advocates involved are asking the important question: What happens after a prison closure? What can we do now to ensure a smooth transition and help the public imagine the alternatives? Closing down a prison is one piece in the larger picture of decarceration, say the residents of a small town called Craigsville, Virginia.
Laura Flanders & Friends paid a visit back in 2024, just months after a prison closure left residents picking up the pieces. The loss of revenue from the prison made it harder for the town to pay its bills. Local businesses suffered from the dip in visitors, and there were fewer jobs available. The future of Craigsville’s economy and culture was uncertain, but even when the prison was open, the town had its issues.
One former employee told us the company didn’t treat its employees well, and the numbers show that Augusta Correctional Center struggled to retain workers. “When you have a 18-year-old, a 19-year-old working in a prison, I can’t imagine what that does to your psyche,” says Margaret Breslau, Co-Founder of the Virginia Prison Justice Network. “You’re never going to get a stable workforce by counting on a prison.”
When your parent and your cousin and your friend all work at Augusta, it can be hard to envision anything other than a prison economy for the community. But the people of Craigsville had no shortage of ideas. Check out an excerpt from that episode here, and catch the full report on public television and radio this week.
And for our podcast listeners, our Earth Month coverage continues with another report from the U.S. South, where the rate of logging is estimated to be four times that of South America’s rainforests. Now two Carolina-based organizations are creating the South’s first environmental justice training center to show all that forests do for the community, and why they’re worth keeping.
