Public Safety Panel To Meet

The Newtown Public Safety Committee, whose members discuss safety issues stemming from the local presence of Garner Correctional Institution, is scheduled to meet Tuesday, June 6, at 5 pm at Booth Library, 25 Main Street.

Panel members typically discuss a range of issues with public safety implications in connection with the high security prison at 50 Nunnawauk Road which is designed to hold more than 700 serious offenders. The state opened Garner in November 1992 in the face of strong opposition from the town, which had sought to block its construction.

At the last quarterly meeting of the safety panel in March, members expressed concerns about the state Department of Correction’s (DOC) intention to expand existing prison facilities in the state to deal with an increasing inmate population.

Since then, the state legislature scuttled DOC’s proposal to convert an unused New Haven armory into prison facilities. The DOC, however, is expected to propose other prison expansion projects in the coming months.

Town officials and state legislators from the area who are safety committee members have vowed to oppose any expansion of Garner.