According to the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS), 638 employees at Downstate Correctional Facility in Dutchess County should start planning for a job-related shakeup.

That's because the prison, along with five other prisons in the state, will close in March 2022.

Many correctional officers will suffer as a result of the closures, if not financially, emotionally, representatives of the New York State Correctional Officers Police Benevolent Association (NYSCOPBA) said at a press conference Wednesday.

“DOCSS will be quick to say, ‘Hey, we’re not going to see any layoffs.’ You’re right. But we’ll see resignations. We’ll see retirements,” NYSCOPBA Mid-Hudson Chapter Vice President Chris Moreau said. “We’ll see people who are displaced so far from home, that their families will disconnect.”

Union reps also said they are concerned that as policies change and prison populations decrease, violence inside prisons is increasing.

“We’ve seen a 50-percent reduction in our inmate population, but a 100-percent increase in inmate-on-staff violence and inmate-on-inmate violence,” Moreau said. “This has to be addressed and the department has failed to address this for over a decade.”

Union leaders said that over the years, they have asked state lawmakers to do a comprehensive study on why these types of incidents appear to be happening more frequently.

Union President Mike Powers said he has had a few meetings with Gov. Kathy Hochul to develop a working relationship, and hopes her administration will eventually help change the trend.

“We’re on pace this year with a significantly smaller inmate population, with a higher amount of violence,” Powers said.

State officials said they are closing the prisons because the total incarcerated population at state facilities is the lowest it has been since 1984.

The other affected locations include Ogdensburg Correctional, Moriah Shock Incarceration Correctional, Willard Drug Treatment Campus, Southport Correctional and Rochester Correctional.

State officials said they decided to close the six prisons after a review of infrastructure, security and health services at all of the state’s 50 prisons.

With the closures, the state said it will save about $142 million.

A DOCCS spokesperson told Spectrum News 1 in an email that the displaced employees will not be forgotten.

“DOCCS will work closely with the various bargaining units to provide staff with opportunities for priority placement via voluntary transfers, as well as priority employment at other facilities or other state agencies as a result of the formal Civil Service process that is followed with the closure of a correctional facility,” the statement read in part. “DOCCS does not anticipate any layoffs due to these closures.”

Powers said that if the study is not done and the state keeps closing prisons, he expects violence in prisons to increase.

He said on Tuesday, three corrections officers from Downstate had to be hospitalized with injuries sustained in an assault.