The Number Of Garner ‘Overflow’ Prisoners Is Decreasing

By Andrew Gorosko

The number of “overflow” prisoners being held at the high-security Garner Correctional Institution on Nunnawauk Road is declining, as overcrowding pressures in the state prison system ease, the prison’s warden told the town’s Public Safety Committee this week.

Garner Warden Giovanny Gomez said June 3 that Garner held 761 male inmates on that day. At the most recent quarterly meeting of the safety panel on March 4, Garner had held 795 inmates

On June 3, 36 of the 761 inmates were “overflow” prisoners being held in the prison gymnasium, Warden Gomez said. On March 4, 69 of the 795 men being held in Garner were overflow prisoners. The overflow inmates are considered low-security prisoners.

Last December 10, there were 807 inmates in Garner, 68 of whom were overflow prisoners. Last September 17, Garner held 809 prisoners, 71 of whom were overflow inmates.

Warden Gomez said the state Department of Correction (DOC) hopes to stop using the Garner gym to house overflow prisoners within a few months.

The state has constructed new prison space for 600 inmates at MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield to house its increasing prisoner population. Since last August, Garner and other state prisons have housed overflow prisoners in makeshift accommodations to deal with that space shortage. The DOC also is in the planning stages to build new prison space for 720 inmates in Somers. Also, the DOC contracts with the state of Virginia to house 500 inmates.

Garner houses both pretrial and sentenced offenders. Besides a general prisoner population, it has a gang-management unit, plus a specialty in prisoner psychiatric care, including anger management and post-traumatic stress disorder treatment.

Garner, which opened in November 1992, is a two-building facility on 118 acres at 50 Nunnawauk Road. The main building contains 245,000 square feet of space and houses all inmates. An adjacent 15,100-square-foot building is used for maintenance. Garner is a Level 4 prison in a prison system in which Level 5 is the highest security rating.

Shakedown

Warden Gomez told safety committee members that Garner correction officers are in the midst of one of two annual “shakedowns,” during which correction officers thoroughly inspect the premises seeking contraband that has been hidden by prisoners. Items sought in shakedowns include weapons and drugs. DOC prisons have at least two shakedowns annually, the warden said.

During the past quarter, since the March meeting of the safety panel, Garner has experienced a prisoner suicide and the arrest of a correction officer for attempting to bring heroin into the prison.

On May 7, a North Carolina man, who was serving a life sentence for five murders in Redding in 1995, committed suicide. The suicide victim, Geoffrey Ferguson, 52, was incarcerated on capital felony and arson convictions. Ferguson died due to asphyxiation, resulting from ligature strangulation, apparently caused by his having tied some object around his neck in his solitary cell.

Ferguson, who had owned a house in the Georgetown section of Redding, was an enraged landlord who shot and killed three tenants and their two friends on April 18, 1995, in a landlord/tenant dispute. Ferguson then set fire to the Portland Avenue house to hide the murders.

On May 12, state police charged Garner correction officer Anthony Collins, 39, of New Milford with two counts of attempting to distribute heroin and two counts of attempting to convey heroin into a correctional institution. State police have said Collins attempted to bring heroin into the prison while working there.

Saying that both the suicide and the heroin case are under investigation, Warden Gomez declined to comment on either matter.

Also at the public safety session, Dom Posca, who runs the public school system’s properties, told Warden Gomez that he wants some Garner low-security prisoners work on school properties during the summer.

Mr Posca said past arrangements under which prisoners worked for the public schools have proved beneficial.

Warden Gomez stressed he is very selective in choosing which prisoners will be allowed to work for the town to ensure that they do not pose security problems.

New Administrator

Warden Gomez introduced safety panel members to Mark Strange, the new administrator for the DOC’s southern district. Mr Strange is the warden’s supervisor.

The DOC’s basic priorities remain unchanged, Mr Strange stressed, saying that public safety and security are prime considerations in how the state prison system operates. A recent reorganization of the prison system should have no effect on the town, he said.

First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal, who is chairman of the public safety panel, said that although there were strained relations between the town and the DOC after Garner opened, those relations have greatly improved.

Following its opening, Garner was rocked by a major prisoner riot, dual prisoner escapes, and numerous violent incidents by inmates within the prison. The DOC then took a variety of steps to improve prison security.

Mr Strange said the DOC will continue to notify the town when any out-of-the-ordinary situations occur at Garner to keep local officials apprised of unusual conditions there.

Warden Gomez told safety committee members that he will remain in charge at Garner for the foreseeable future. DOC prison wardens typically stay in an assignment for about three years, after which they receive a new assignment. Warden Gomez has been at Garner since February 1999. The warden said he is happy to remain in his current post.