BUFFALO – A Western New York state senator is attacking Governor Andrew Cuomo’s proposal to use public money to provide college education to prison inmates.
Senator Mark Grisanti (R-Buffalo) has established an online petition against the proposal, which can be found on his Facebook Page. The Buffalo republican said the petition was established after he received numerous calls, emails and messages against the proposal after it was unveiled over the weekend.
The petition, in its first three hours online, got 424 signatures.
Cuomo’s program would offer associate and bachelor’s degree education at 10 prisons, one in each region of the state. Cuomo says it will reduce the likelihood of inmates returning to crime. He proposed spending about $5,000 a year for an inmate’s education, noting it already costs about $60,000 to incarcerate an inmate.
College classes already are offered at 18 of the state’s more than 50 prisons for limited enrollments and are almost entirely privately funded.
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