Last day of operations at Windsor prison

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WINDSOR, Vt. (WCAX) It's the end of an era with the closure of the state prison in Windsor. Now come concerns about the economic fallout from the closing.

It's a unique sight at the Southeast State Correctional Facility -- the gates are wide open as Tuesday is the last full day of operation. Employees say it's been an emotional move out.

Empty rooms and vacant buildings reveal how the prison looks on its last day. In its prime, this facility was home to about 60 employees and officers and about 100 inmates. Their numbers have slowly been going down as inmates stopped arriving in May. The last 18 left last Monday and were sent to other facilities in the state.

Kat Tkaczyk has been the superintendent at the prison the last three years and is proud of her employees for finishing the job. "They completed the mission and did an excellent job doing it," Tkaczyk said. She says most of the employees have been reassigned to new facilities -- for some, this is the only job they have had. For staff to do a very difficult job not knowing if they are going to be here or how long they are going to be here -- they did an incredible job."

Windsor is closing because it's too expensive to run. The state says it cost more than $80 thousand to house just one inmate here, making it the most costly prison in Vermont. But Tkazyk feels this facility did more to prepare inmates for when they left. They learned job skills such as wood work and gardening. "While they are outside during they day they may forget where they are for a minute," she said.

A proposal for what this space can be used for is set to be released on November 1.