Prisons are once again a controversial topic in Albany. Governor Cuomo and Democratic lawmakers who now control the legislature have made criminal justice reform a top priority.

That's meant fewer men and women going to prison and more than a dozen state correctional facilities have already closed statewide. That change has been praised by reform activists.

But it threatens the corrections work, which has grown into one of the region's biggest and most controversial industries, providing thousands of high paying jobs, and anchoring in the economies in towns from Malone to Moriah.