ABSTRACT
A significant development in rural New York is the construction of many new prisons to hold the state's rapidly rising incarcerated population. Perhaps nothing demonstrates the close ties between rural and urban America better than the state prisons, largely filled with urban inmates but mostly located in rural places, where populations are sparse and land is available. Although some rural communities are opposed to or ambivalent about having a prison situated in their midst, many communities and their governments are eagerly offering their land and their community as a prison site. In fact, the recent flurry of prison-seeking activity in upstate New York could be dubbed "the Great Prison Competition of 1989." Local attitudes about seeking a state prison vary between communities and among residents of any given community, but the benefits and drawbacks cited by local governments and residents appear remarkably similar around the nation. Employment effects may fail to measure up to prior expectations.
