Garner Cellblock For Federal Prisoners Under Negotiation

By Andrew Gorosko

The state Department of Correction (DOC) and federal prison officials are in talks about possibly designating one of the existing cellblocks at the state’s high-security Garner Correctional Institution on Nunnawauk Road as a housing unit for unsentenced federal prisoners who are awaiting trial in the federal court system.

Garner Warden Scott Semple told members of the Public Safety Committee for Garner Correctional Institution on June 7 that the cellblock that is under consideration for holding unsentenced federal inmates currently houses state prisoners who are unsentenced and being held on bail while awaiting trial on criminal charges in the state court system.

By arrangement with federal prison officials, Garner currently houses about one dozen unsentenced federal inmates, the warden said. Designating one cellblock at Garner for unsentenced federal prisoners would allow Garner to house 85 to 90 such federal inmates, he added.

Committee member Joy Previdi expressed concerns over whether holding federal inmates at Garner would pose any public safety risks in terms of those prisoners being transported to and from federal courts as their criminal cases are adjudicated.

Federal marshals would handle such prisoner transport duties to and from the federal courts, Warden Semple said. State judicial marshals currently transport the unsentenced state prisoners at Garner to and from the state courts.

Warden Semple said he expects that federal inmates who would be held at Garner would be traveling to and from federal courts in New England, and in Connecticut in particular.

The public is concerned about public safety risks posed by prisoner transport, Ms Previdi said, noting that Garner is located in a residential area.

Warden Semple said that transporting the federal prisoners would be similar to the current transport of state prisoners.

Ms Previdi, however, questioned whether that would be the case.

Committee member Stephen J. Sedensky III said it is not unusual to house unsentenced federal inmates in Connecticut state prisons. Mr Sedensky is the state’s attorney at Danbury Superior Court.

Garner Deputy Warden Henry Falcone noted that the state correctional centers at Bridgeport, New Haven, and Hartford currently house unsentenced federal inmates.

Warden Semple stressed that any federal inmates who would eventually be released from custody at Garner would be transported to their particular destinations and not simply be released onto the street at 50 Nunnawauk Road.

The warden said he expects that DOC officials would know by July whether a full cellblock at Garner would be designated to house unsentenced federal inmates.

Under such an arrangement, state correction officers would oversee cellblock operations, with federal prison officials making inspections there, he said.

Money that the federal government would pay the state government for housing federal inmates in a state prison would be deposited in the state’s general fund.

 DOC spokesman Andrius Banevicius said June 8 that the DOC is finalizing a possible “memorandum of understanding” or contract between it and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBP) on the DOC accepting up to 200 unsentenced federal inmates in the state prison system. Such a contract would run for an indefinite term, or until the DOC or the FBP decided that it no longer wanted to participate in the pact, he said.

Mr Banevicius said the DOC would accept federal inmates only if there is space for them available in the state prison system.

Of Garner potentially housing a cellblock of unsentenced federal prisoners, Mr Banevicius said, “For all intents and purposes, the public wouldn’t notice any difference…There’ll be no additional risk to public safety, because that would be contrary to [DOC’s] mission.”

On June 7, Garner housed 596 male inmates, of whom 421 prisoners were classified as mental health inmates, and 175 of whom were listed as general population and/or unsentenced inmates.

Garner is the state prison that specializes in housing and treating inmates with mental health problems.

Garner has a Level 4 security rating in a state prison system in which the highest security rating is Level 5. The 245,000-square-foot prison opened in 1992.