Panel Expresses Concern About Garner Prisoner Transport

By Andrew Gorosko

Members of the Newtown Public Safety Committee are expressing concern about the number of prisoners being transported to and from the state’s Garner Correctional Institution on Nunnawauk Road, in light of Garner’s having become a facility wherein a large segment of the prison population is “unsentenced” inmates requiring trips to and from the courts.

Committee member Joy Previdi June 6 told Garner Major Wayne Sparks she finds it “disconcerting” that the presence of unsentenced inmates at Garner translates into much prisoner transport to and from the high-security prison for court appearances, posing public safety issues. Major Sparks represented Garner at the committee session, filling in for Garner Warden Giovanny Gomez who did not attend.

On June 6, Garner held 726 prisoners, 186 of whom are unsentenced. The state Department of Correction (DOC) has shifted some of its unsentenced inmates to Garner to deal with a space crunch at other DOC prisons.

Major Sparks said Garner currently typically transports about 60 inmates a week in and out of the prison for court appearances. Before the facility had housed unsentenced inmates, it typically had about 20 inmates traveling weekly, he said. The major said many trips involve the transport of multiple prisoners in buses or vans.

Major Sparks said he does not foresee the DOC using Garner as a holding facility for unsentenced inmates on a long-term basis, noting that the DOC needs to use Garner for the purpose for which it was designed – holding high-security sentenced inmates on a long-term basis. Garner is a “Level 4” prison. In the DOC’s security system, a Level 5 prison has the highest security level.

The DOC has been using Garner to hold unsentenced inmates in light of state prison system crowding pressures, which have resulted in inmates sleeping on prison gymnasium floors in jails in Bridgeport and New Haven, Major Sparks said. The DOC has designated two of the seven cellblocks at Garner to hold unsentenced inmates. Unsentenced inmates are prisoners who have been charged and are being held on bond waiting for a trial, or are inmates who have been convicted of crimes and are awaiting sentencing.

Space to house the unsentenced inmates at Garner became available after the state began a prisoner transfer project from Garner to a Virginia state prison last fall. The DOC transferred some of its most troublesome inmates from Connecticut prisons to Wallen’s Ridge State Correctional Facility in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, to alleviate crowding pressures in the Connecticut prison system.

Safety committee members also expressed concerns about the routes that DOC prisoner transport vehicles sometimes travel when transporting inmates to and from Garner, asking why town roads instead of state roads are sometimes used.

Major Sparks said the DOC could modify its routes for routine transport work to use state roads whenever possible.

First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal urged that the DOC use main roads for prisoner transport and that the DOC have the state police or town police provide escorts to prisoner transport vehicles when needed.

Major Sparks explained that DOC prisoner transport vehicles always are in radio contact with DOC facilities.

Acting Police Chief Michael Kehoe told safety committee members that town police performed a test last weekend of the electronic pagers which have been distributed to residents to alert them to public safety hazards posed by incidents at Garner.

Police received only two responses to a test message which requested pager users to contact police to confirm the test, he said.

If only two people responded, the pager system does not appear to be an effective way to notify people of problems at Garner, Mr Kehoe said.

Mr Rosenthal suggested that a study be done to check on the status of the pagers that were distributed several years ago to community members who wanted to stay informed of public safety problems posed by incidents at Garner. Mr Rosenthal said the town will ask the pager users to state whether they plan to use the devices. If not, the pagers would be redistributed to people who would use them, he said.

Safety committee member Sandra Michaud said she does not believe the public understands the nature of the Newtown Public Safety Committee based on its name. She suggested that the name be changed to the Prison Advisory Committee to make its function more apparent to the general public and prompt more public participation at its quarterly meetings.

Mr Rosenthal agreed, saying the panel will assume the new name to make its function clearer. Panel members discuss a range of issues with public safety implications stemming from the presence of Garner.

Garner, which opened in November 1992, formerly served as the DOC’s prime facility for housing prison gang members. That function has shifted to Northern Correctional Institution in Somers. Garner now serves as the state’s prime prison for inmates with mental health problems. Inmates who need more mental health treatment than can be provided at Garner are sent to Whiting Forensic Institute in Middletown.

Town officials and state legislators representing the town plan to stay informed of the DOC’s intention to create additional state prison space, with the goal of preventing the DOC from building that prison space in Newtown.

The state legislature recently turned down a DOC initiative to create more prison space in New Haven. The agency is expected to again seek to expand its facilities to deal with an increasing prisoner population.