It's been a dying town for some time now. The prison may have actually helped some.

My grandmother used to live there back in the 80s and we would visit regularly when I was a kid and it was pretty rough back then. All the houses on her street were abandoned and about half burned out and boarded up. It got worse in the 90s, but think it's actually on an uptrend now. Drove thru last year and it was way cleaner and busier than I remember.

Maybe rent and see before buying. Real estate is on the way down in the northern New England so you'll probably find better deals next year.