Why were those 7 closed?
In my state some were closed because they were too old and escapes were possible.
So the State can say crime is down, plus cut the budget for corrections, plus . They dumped inmates during Covid, and didn't make them complete their court-ordered sentences. And in order to close that many facilities (6 last year), they had to bounce staff, and inmates throughout the rest of the system. And to do that, they had to demote staff to make room for more senior people who were being bounced, possibly lay off people with the least seniority. They also had to dump more inmates into the street to make room for the ones they had to move out of the facility's they were closing...basically musical chairs.