Giordano Being Held At Garner

By Andrew Gorosko

Philip A. Giordano, the former Waterbury mayor who currently is standing trial in US District Court in Bridgeport on federal child sex charges, is being held at the state’s Garner Correctional Institution in Newtown while the trial is underway.

State Department of Correction (DOC) spokeswoman Karen Oien confirmed Thursday that Giordano is incarcerated at Garner at 50 Nunnawauk Road.

Garner, which opened in November 1992, is a high-security prison designed to hold about 720 inmates. Recent overcrowding pressures in the state prison system, however, have resulted in “overflow” prisoners being held in the prison’s large gymnasium. As of March 4, Garner held 795 male inmates.

Giordano’s 18-count federal child sex assault trial started Wednesday and is expected to last about two weeks. Giordano, 39, was transferred to Garner on Monday from a jail in Putnam County, N.Y., where he has been held without bail since his July 2001 arrest.

Federal officials transferred Giordano to Garner to cut his travel time between jail and court during the trial. Giordano reportedly is being held in Garner’s mental health unit, instead of among the general prison population, for his own protection.

If convicted, the former Republican mayor faces life in prison. Besides the various federal charges, Giordano also faces state charges of sexual assault, risk of injury to a minor, and conspiracy to commit sexual assault.