Police Rework Prison Emergency Response Plans

By Andrew Gorosko

Based on the experience gained by town police at a large-scale emergency training drill held last fall at the state’s high-security Garner Correctional Institution on Nunnawauk Road, Newtown police have made some significant changes to their contingency plans on responding to Garner emergencies, such as prisoner escapes and inmate riots.

With scant discussion, Police Commission members on May 3 unanimously approved a policy entitled “Response to Disturbances and/or Escapes at DOC Facilities (Revised #8-12).”

Garner opened in November 1992 on a 118-acre site at 50 Nunnawauk Road, adjacent to Fairfield Hills. A main building there that encloses 245,000 square feet of space houses all inmates.

A recent Garner census listed an inmate population of 635 men, 525 of whom were categorized as mental health inmates. During the past year, Garner has become the state Department of Correction’s (DOC) prison specializing in housing inmates with serious mental health problems. James Dzurenda is Garner’s warden.

Police Chief Michael Kehoe has declined to provide a copy of the town police’s revised policy on responding to prison emergencies, saying that the document contains sensitive subject matter. Disclosing town police’s plans on handling prison emergencies would compromise the police’s ability to function under such circumstances, he said.

Chief Kehoe did say that the revised police policy on responding to DOC emergencies in based on experience that police gained last November at the large-scale prison training drill. The revised policy is a significant revision of the previous policy, he said.

In its first year of operation, Garner experienced a prison riot. It also had a nighttime escape of two inmates. The DOC later heightened security measures to forestall such incidents.

At the Garner training drill last November 10, a state police spotter airplane flew about 1,000 feet above Fairfield Hills, as bloodhounds, German shepherds, and their trailing handlers scattered across the terrain seeking the scents of four inmates who had “escaped” from the nearby prison.

DOC personnel, state police, and town police joined forces in the exercise intended to simulate for training purposes a variety of emergency situations that could occur at the prison.

Realism was the watchword at the training drill, with state police closing down the intersections leading to Garner and barring public access to the prison area while the drill was underway.

The LifeStar helicopter made a landing and takeoff at Garner’s helipad in a simulated patient transport.

During the drill, participants employed realistic radio communications in simulating the emergency. About 75 people took part in the exercise.

The public had been notified in advance that a realistic drill would be conducted. No actual inmates participated in the role-playing event intended to test the coordination, radio communications, and command and control capabilities of the three organizations working in unison.

The training exercise was the first of its type at Garner and one of the largest events of its kind ever conducted in the state.

State police spokesman Sergeant J. Paul Vance said this week that state police possess customized response plans for emergencies at each of the DOC’s prisons across the state. The state police’s response plans, including the one designed for Garner, are confidential documents and not available for public review, the sergeant said.

The response plans address emergencies such as prisoner escapes and inmate riots, he said. The plans address issues such as available staffing for handling emergencies, as well as the availability of certain equipment, he said.

The state police prison emergency response plans, which are contained in large loose-leaf binders, are thorough documents, he said. “It really is a soup-to-nuts recipe book” for dealing with prison emergencies, he said.

The state police, Newtown police, and the DOC each have their own individual plans to address Garner emergencies, Sgt Vance said. Each plan is coordinated with the other plans so that the actions specified in the three documents complement one another, he said.

Commenting on DOC planning for prison emergencies at Garner, DOC spokesman Ed Ramsey said this week, “No changes have been made. However, minor adjustments have been made to improve communications between law enforcement agencies.”

“This is a standard and ongoing process to improve service,” Mr Ramsey said.

Last December, a DOC analysis of the Garner training drill indicated that the DOC, state police, and town police should work to streamline both their verbal and electronic interagency communications to enhance performance in handling prison-based emergencies.

Following the drill, members of the three agencies gathered to analyze what went well during the drill, and also discuss how those agencies’ performance in responding to prison emergencies could be improved.