Republicans led by state Assemblyman Chris Tague held a press conference last week with prison employees to protest the governor’s proposal to close up to five prisons. Gov. Kathy Hochul in her executive budget released last month included a proposal to close up to five prisons, but she did not specify which of the state’s 44 prisons would be selected. A 2022 state report found the number of incarcerated individuals in March 2021 was just one-half of the level in March 2008.