
Here’s How Much Prisoners In New York Cost Taxpayers
You might be surprised by how much taxpayers spend daily to house and provide for inmates in New York State prisons. When you see the cost, you might realize other options may be more economical to deal with non-violent, lower-level crimes. Let's put it this way, you could stay in a pretty nice hotel or even take a cruise for the daily cost.
As of June 1, 2025, there are currently 31,182 incarcerated individuals in custody at New York State's 42 facilities. Green Haven Correctional Facility is the most populated, with 1,827 prisoners. The prison with the least number of inmates is Edgecombe Residential Treatment Facility, with a total of 10.
KEEP READING: How To Get Your Criminal Record Sealed In New York State
Can Releasing Prisoners Ease The Cost?
Recently, New York State announced a plan to release hundreds of prisoners early. Over the next four months, the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision plans to release low-level offenders ahead of their scheduled release dates. Commissioner Daniel Martuscello sent out a memo on Monday, April 1, 2025, detailing the plan to prison leaders. The move was announced after corrections officers held an illegal strike.
Due to corrections officers breaking Taylor's Law by striking, 2,000 NYS corrections officers were fired recently. Strikes by public employees in New York are prohibited by Taylor's Law. The prison guards participating in the illegal strike want the HALT Act repealed. The act limits the use of solitary confinement, which community activists and prisoner advocates say helps protect incarcerated individuals from being abused.
Housing Inmates In New York State Prisons Is Expensive
KEEP READING: Trends In Inmate Aging: A Look At New York's Prisons
For the cost of housing a prisoner for a night, you could enjoy a three- or four-star hotel! Per Vera.org,
In state prisons, New York spends an average of over $315 a day, or nearly $115,000 per year, to incarcerate one person.
For less than $315 per day, you could stay at:
- Albany - Staybridge Suites Albany Wolf Rd-Colonie Center with a 9.3 (Wonderful) rating
- Buffalo - Wyndham Garden Buffalo Downtown with an 8.6 (Very good) rating
- New York City - Ameritania at Times Square with an 8.1 (Very good) rating
- Rochester - Country Inn & Suites Rochester-Pittsford with an 8.4 (Very good) rating
- Syracuse - Marriott Syracuse Downtown with an 8.2 (Very good) rating
That's how much it costs for the NYS Department of Corrections and Community Supervision facilities. That doesn't even include county jails. In 2019, it cost approximately $225 to incarcerate each prisoner for one night or $82,000 per year in a county jail. Outside of New York City counties, jails around the state cost a total of $1.3 billion in staffing and operational expenses. According to Zip Recruiter, the average salary in New York State is $51,979 annually. So, it costs more to house an inmate in New York than most people make per year.
Vera.org points out that counties outside of NYC are spending more on jails than they are on services to get people employed and keep them out of legal trouble.
In 2019, the average county outside of New York City spent:
› 12 times as much on its jail as on employment services
› twice as much on its jail as on public health
› 9 times as much on its jail as on housing assistance.
The point is that investing in jails and prisons is costing New York taxpayers a whole lot of money. I don't have the solution, but what we are currently doing is expensive.
Read More About Prisons In New York:
- New York Taxpayers To Pay For Transgender Prisoners Transition Surgery?
- These New York Prisons Have The Most Killers
- These 10 Prisons Have The Most Inmates In New York
- Top 6 Prisons With The Most Deaths In New York

The 7 Oldest Continuously Operating Prisons in New York State
Gallery Credit: Will Phillips
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