Roger Hannigan Gilson is reporting in the Register-Star the Hudson Correctional Facility will be converted to house primarily 16- and 17-year-olds as part of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s new program to separate teenagers from adults in prisons statewide. Cuomo signed the executive order Tue., Dec. 22, bypassing the state Legislature to separate the two populations. According to the order, approximately 100 16- and 17-year-olds are now housed with adults in state prisons, and roughly 550 are housed with adults in local jails. The Hudson Correctional Facility is at present a medium-security, all-male state prison. Young men from minimum- and medium-security facilities and all young women currently housed in state facilities will be transferred to Hudson beginning in August 2016, according to the governor’s office. The Hudson location will also serve as a processing facility for all young people entering the penal system. The facility will begin a new program called the “youth program model,” designed to rehabilitate incarcerated youth and reduce recidivism. New York is the only state other than North Carolina to prosecute and jail 16- and 17-year-olds as adults. Cuomo's action Tuesday directs that teenagers be housed separately, but young people will continue to be prosecuted and sentenced as adults under state law. Read the full story in the Register-Star.