Garner Prison Staffers Train For Inmate Escapes

By Andrew Gorosko

State Department of Correction (DOC) officials recently staged a simulated prisoner escape at Garner Correctional Institution to prepare Garner staffers for the possibility of such an incident.

A few days after that training exercise, however, DOC members briefly believed that they had an actual escape occurring at the high-security prison. An investigation of that incident proved those fears to be unfounded.

Garner Deputy Warden Scott Semple on September 4 told members of the Public Safety Committee for Garner Correctional Institution that on August 24, the DOC staged a simulated escape, known as a “Code Green” situation, at the 245,000-square-foot prison at 50 Nunnawauk Road.

The training exercise went well, Mr Semple told committee members.

However, on August 28, DOC staffers heard what they believed to be footfalls atop the massive prison’s roof and thought that an inmate escape was underway.

Consequently, the prison was placed in “lockdown mode” with all prisoners confined to their cells and counted.

An investigation determined that no inmate escape had occurred, Mr Semple explained.

A dual escape did occur from Garner in 1993, when two inmates were able to get out of the heavily secured building in the nighttime.

One inmate was injured after he jumped off the prison roof, broke a leg, and was soon captured.

The other prisoner ran off into the night and made his way to the town center, where he stole an auto and drove off. The man then perpetrated a crime spree, after which he was caught in New Haven two weeks after the escape.

Following those 1993 escapes, DOC officials took steps to fortify the prison roof and install an extensive amount of surveillance equipment atop it.

In response to the August 24 training exercise, the town activated its Code Red emergency warning system, placing automated telephone calls to residents living within a one-mile radius of the prison to notify them of the simulated escape training exercise.

Police Chief Michael Kehoe said September 5 that town officials are evaluating the effectiveness of that Code Red telephone notification. Some of the residents who were targeted to received telephone calls apparently did not receive those calls, according to the chief.

The town recently acquired the Code Red system to alert residents of a variety of emergency situations.

First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal noted that DOC officials contacted the town to notify it of the simulated escape exercise on August 24 and of the erroneously reported escape on August 28.

Chief Kehoe termed a prison escape, which would involve an intensive manhunt, for an escapee “a worst case scenario” in terms of prison incidents.

The chief added that the DOC has managed inmate security well at Garner. “You have secured that facility very well. It’s a credit to your agency,” he said.

Garner’s Population

Mr Semple told committee members on September 4 that Garner then held a total of 570 male inmates. Of that number, 383 are categorized as mental health inmates and the remaining 187 are general prisoners.

Of the 570 prisoners, about 125 are unsentenced inmates, meaning that their pending criminal charges have yet to receive dispositions in the courts. The large majority of unsentenced inmates are mental health prisoners, he said.

Garner is the state prison specializing in the housing and treatment of inmates with chronic mental health problems. The prison has a Level 4 security rating, in a prison system whose top security rating is Level 5.

Also, Mr Semple told committee members that during the month of July, there were 93 incidents of “Class A” discipline against inmates in the Garner, compared to 87 such serious incidents in June.

During July, there were seven cases in which DOC staffers used force in handling inmates, compared to nine such incidents in June, he said.

Mr Semple told committee members that the prison has an approximately seven-acre field on its site that is suitable for hay removal by farmers. Farmers interested in removing that hay should contact the prison for information.