FCI Ray Brook, left, from Haystack Mountain. At right is the New York State Adirondack Correctional Facility, formerly Ray Brook Sanatorium. The Federal Correctional Institution, Ray Brook is a medium security prison for males located in Ray Brook, New York. It employs 328. It is 3.5 miles southeast of Saranac Lake and 6 miles west of Lake Placid, near the New York state medium-security prison, the Adirondack Correctional Facility, and the headquarters of New York State Police Troop B.
On August 25, 2010, the Adirondack Daily Enterprise reported that FCI Ray Brook houses 1,214 inmates, according to the most recent Bureau of Prisons prison count. The facility was originally built as the athletes' village for the 1980 Olympic Winter Games; security for the athletes was of great concern because of the murder of Israeli athletes by terrorists at the previous Olympics.
Adirondack Daily Enterprise, June 17, 1980
Significant economic effect expected from new prison
The Saranac Lake Chamber of Commerce speech this year was of particular interest and should put to rest myriad rumors.
J. Michael Quinlan, warden of the federal prison in Otisfille, came up here to tell us officially exactly what is happening now and what will happen with respect to the federal prison at Ray Brook.
Quinlan said that the prison is being converted now for fulltime use and that the staff will be hired throughout the summer, with all 221 staff members hired by October.
His words confirmed that this area is just about to get its biggest economic shot in the arm for a long time and put to rest foolish stories that somehow or other the federal prison was not going to open.
Quinlan said that the average salary at the facility will be $15,000 a year which means that the payroll will be some $3.3 million — or slightly more than the size of the total payroll of the Saranac Lake Central School system.
This will represent all new money to the area and, Quinlan said, "a majority" of the people hired to run the prison will be local.
Obviously the most highly paid supervisory jobs will be filled by career civil servants in the Justice Department who will move in from outside the area.
What the federal prison means is that there will be at least 110 new, permanent and relatively high paying jobs for local persons.
In addition it means that by this fall some 100 new families will be moving to the area, if past experience with the A.P.A. and Troop 'B" is any guide, most will be moving to Saranac Lake. This should translate to several hundred new students in the Saranac Lake system.
After his speech Quinlan said that the new prison will be a favored location for careerists in the Bureau of Prisons because of the beautiful natural surroundings.
Much of the $6 million total budget for the prison will be spent here — on goods and services as well as salaries. It is fair to say that (with the pass-along effect of new money) the impact of this budget on the local economy will be well into the 10's of millions of dollars.
The significance of this development cannot be overestimated. It should mean a period of real growth in our economy.
