FORT ANN – Hundreds of people gathered in Fort Ann Sunday to rally to save the Great Meadow Correctional Facility.

The prison is one of the largest employers in the Town of Fort Ann and is set to close on Nov. 6.

People who work at the prison are worried if they will be faced with the decision to either move or lose their jobs.

Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner (D – Round Lake) attended the rally today and urged the state to change their decision.  

“You close Great Meadow and what are you doing? You are tearing apart families. You are tearing apart neighborhoods. Neighborhoods. And how does that make sense?” said Woerner.

Sen. Dan Stec (R – Queensbury) rallied with the people here too today.

“And I’m going to drive two hours away. I’m going to move my family. I’m going to move my spouse, who might have a great job and career going on their own, and take my kids out of school,” said Stec. “You’re nuts, Governor Hochul, nuts.”

New York State said workers at Great Meadow will be offered jobs at other facilities across the state but did not specify where.

The state said the closure of the facility is due to a staffing shortage and fewer inmates at the facility with only around 30 percent of the beds being full.

Congresswoman Elise Stefanik attempted to send a message to Governor Hochul at the rally to show the impact the closure of Great Meadow will have on the community.

“The economic impact will be the largest job loss in over ten years for upstate New York,” Stefanik said. “The kids who are in the local school districts, the spouses who work locally, the small businesses, the convenience stores, it will have hundreds of millions of dollars of negative economic impact.”