Garner Inmate Charged In Threat Case

 By Andrew Gorosko

State police have charged an inmate at Garner Correctional Institution on Nunnawauk Road with several offenses in connection with the inmate’s alleged mailing of letters to Hartford threatening the life of Connecticut State Supreme Court Chief Justice William Sullivan and the chief justice’s immediate family.

Charged in the case is inmate Frank A. Banks, age 53. State police charged Banks with inciting injury to persons/property, first degree harassment, second degree threatening, and second degree breach of peace.

Banks, who has been incarcerated since November 1980, was sentenced in June 1982 to life in prison on a murder conviction.

In a statement, state police said that a joint investigation by state police and the state Department of Correction (DOC) determined that Banks wrote a threatening letter to Chief Justice Sullivan, signing another inmate’s name to the letter.

“The purpose of these threats was to cause a criminal investigation against the other inmate, whose name was fraudulently used [by Banks],” according to state police.

State police served a Hartford Superior Court arrest warrant against Banks at 9:30 am on July 23, at a jail in Hartford, where Banks was being held in connection with his previous murder conviction, state police said.

After his arrest, Banks was arraigned on the charges at Hartford Superior Court, after which he was held at Garner. Banks is scheduled to return to court in connection with the charges stemming from the threats made against the Chief Justice Sullivan.