A new study by The Sentencing Project examines 25 years of economic data in New York State and finds that building prisons in rural communities has had no positive effect on either employment or per capita income.

Economic developments of the late 20th century left the agricultural and manufacturing based rural regions of America struggling to maintain financial solvency. While America was losing manufacturing jobs, an intensified drug war helped create a prison boom. With an average of 35 jobs being created for every 100 inmates being housed, and state prison populations increasing by an annual average of 8.1% from 1985 to 1995, local officials began to consider prisons as an economic development tool. However, in order to attract prison construction, local officials have often been forced to make generous concessions. The study looked at prison development trends during a period in which 38 prisons were built in upstate New York, mostly in rural areas.

Key Findings of the Sentencing Project report include:

• Residents of rural counties with one or more prisons did not gain significant employment advantages compared to rural counties without prisons. Unemployment rates moved in the same direction for both groups of counties and were consistent with the overall employment rates for the state as a whole.
• During the economic recovery from 1982 to 1988, also coinciding with the beginning of the prison building trend in New York, unemployment dropped 44% in counties without prisons and 42% in counties that hosted a prison.
• During the downturn spanning from 1988 to 1992, unemployment rose 55% in counties without prisons, 64% in counties with prisons, and 105% across the state of New York.
• Counties that hosted new prisons received no economic advantage as measured by per capita income.
• From the inception of the prison building boom in 1982 until 2000, per capita income rose 141% in counties without a prison and 132% in counties that hosted a prison. Per capita income for the state as a whole rose 160%.

There are a number of possible factors that explain why prisons provide few economic benefits to local communities: employees not living in the host county; residents ineligible for employment due to union requirements or lack of necessary skills; and local businesses and infrastructure unable to provide prison services necessary to keep state money in the locality.