Inmate Dies After Fight

At Garner

By Andrew Gorosko

A prisoner at Garner Correctional Institution died Wednesday after a fight with another inmate at the high-security prison on Nunnawauk Road, officials said.

The inmate, Bryant Wiseman, 28, of Hartford, received emergency medical care at the prison and was transported by ambulance to the Danbury Hospital emergency room where he was pronounced dead at 2 pm, state police spokesman Sergeant Paul Vance said Thursday morning.

A fight occurred between Wiseman and the unidentified inmate about 12:40 pm, Sgt Vance said. “Officers of the Department of Correction [DOC] responded to the area and broke up this altercation. The two inmates involved were separated. One of the involved inmates [Wiseman] became distressed and required emergency care,” said Sgt Vance. The fight resulted from “an argument of some sort” between Wiseman and the other inmate, the sergeant said.

 DOC spokeswoman Christina Polce said Wiseman, who was in a cellblock, entered a cell containing the unidentified inmate, assaulted that inmate and then left the cell. The other inmate then alerted correction officers that he had been assaulted, after which they attempted to restrain and remove Wiseman to a more secure area, at which point Wiseman became “distressed,” Ms Polce said. It is unclear if the correction officers injured Wiseman in the process of restraining him, she said, adding state police are investigating the case.

  The state police major crime squad is investigating the incident and conducting interviews in the case, Sgt Vance said. The Danbury state’s attorney’s office is participating in the investigation.

 An autopsy was to be performed on Wiseman Thursday by the Chief State’s Medical Examiner’s Office in Farmington to learn the manner and means of his death. Results of the autopsy were not available Thursday morning before The Bee went to press.

Officials will review the results of the autopsy in deciding whether criminal charges will be filed.

Wiseman was serving a 10-year sentence for criminal attempt to commit first-degree arson and second-degree arson, Ms Polce said. His sentence was scheduled to end October 14, 2005. He had been incarcerated since 1995, and had been an inmate in Garner since February, 1997.

Sgt Vance said he did not know if a weapon was used in the assault between Wiseman and the unidentified inmate.

Three unidentified correction officers were transported to St Mary’s Hospital in Waterbury for treatment of injuries they received in the incident, Sgt Vance said. They were treated and released.

Last March, Garner inmate Kenneth Briggaman was strangled to death in his cell by his cellmate, who was already serving a life sentence for another murder.

Inmate John Barletta, 28, of Norwalk later pleaded guilty to the murder and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.