DOC Increasing Garner’s Role As Psychiatric Prison

By Andrew Gorosko

The number of mental health inmates being held at the state’s high-security Garner Correctional Institution on Nunnawauk Road is increasing, in step with the state Department of Correction’s (DOC) plans to consolidate its psychiatric services for state inmates there.

Garner Warden Giovanny Gomez told members of the Garner Correctional Institution Public Safety Committee on September 2 that the prison held 684 inmates. Of that number, there were 271 mental health inmates, 223 general population prisoners, and 190 inmates who are awaiting trial or sentencing, he said.

Last June 3, Garner held 198 mental health inmates.

The warden noted that the “close custody” unit at Garner, which has been operated at the prison for about a decade to rehabilitate gang member inmates, has been shifted to the DOC’s MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield.

“We believe it’s a good change for the facility,” Warden Gomez said. Shifting the “close custody” unit out of Garner removes many of the potentially most violent and most disruptive inmates from the prison, he explained. Inmates held in close custody are the ones who are most likely to start problems in prisons, he said. Close custody prisoners are held under stricter controls than other inmates.

Although mental health inmates are very “manageable” by prison staffers, their presence creates a “labor-intensive” situation in the facility, requiring much staff attention, the warden said.

When mental health inmates are not receiving their appropriate medication, they may become self-destructive, he noted.

DOC Commissioner Theresa Lantz has said she is working to consolidate the DOC’s psychiatric treatment program at Garner, which has been designated as the DOC’s primary psychiatric center. The University of Connecticut provides health services, including psychiatric services, at DOC prisons.

DOC administrator Mark Strange told public safety committee members September 2 that the DOC may shift a “general prisoner” unit from Garner and replace it with a “mental health” unit. Rather than increasing the number of beds at Garner to increase its mental health inmate population, the DOC would make various shifts in the categories of prisoners who are held at Garner, he said.

 Warden Gomez told committee members that the prisoner “overflow” situation at Garner ended about five weeks ago. For the past year, Garner had housed more inmates than it was designed to hold due to overcrowding conditions in the state prison system.

On June 3, Garner held 761 male inmates, 36 of whom were low-security overflow prisoners. Last March 4, Garner had held 795 inmates, of whom 69 were overflow inmates.

Last December 10, there were 807 inmates in Garner, 68 of whom were overflow prisoners. On September 17, 2002, Garner held 809 prisoners, 71 of whom were overflow inmates.

Those low-security overflow prisoners were housed in the prison’s large gymnasium.

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.

The September 2 public safety committee meeting occurred three days before a prison violence incident, which resulted in a prisoner lockdown at Garner. (See separate story.)

Prison Drill

Warden Gomez said Garner staff members conducted emergency drills with the town police department on August 27.

“It went extremely well,” Warden Gomez said. If the prison experiences an emergency, it would be dealt with appropriately, he said. Prison staffers constantly train for various contingencies, he said.

The prison recently conducted a LifeStar helicopter emergency evacuation drill, he said. Garner now has a designated helicopter landing zone, he added.

Like the rest of Newtown, Garner was affected by the major August 14 power blackout, Warden Gomez said. The prison generator worked as it was designed to function under such circumstances, he said. The generator is tested every Tuesday, he added.

Garner correction officers secured and reinforced the prison’s perimeter during the blackout, he said. Garner notified local police of the blackout-related actions that were being taken at the prison, he said. Power returned to the prison about 1 am on August 15.

The public safety panel meets with Warden Gomez four times a year to discuss public safety issues posed by the presence of Garner.