Connecticut closed its Northern Correctional Institution in Somers on June 11, roughly 3 weeks ahead of schedule.
The closure will save the state approximately $11.75 million in annual operating costs, according to a news release.
Gov. Ned Lamont announced in February that Northern would close July 1.
Built in 1995, the maximum-security Northern Correctional Institution housed Connecticut’s death row until the state abolished capital punishment in 2012.
Inmates sued the state in February, asking that no prisoners with psychiatric conditions be transported there as the loneliness of the “supermax” facility exacerbated their symptoms, according to CTmirror.com.
At the time of Lamont’s February announcement, Northern was being staffed by 175.
There were no layoffs, the state said. The employees were all deployed to nearby facilities.
Connecticut closed the Enfield Correctional Institution in 2018.
Robinson Correctional Institution and Willard-Cybulski Correctional Institution remain nearby.
The Nutmeg state’s prison population is down to 9,000 from an all-time high of 19,894 in 2008.
Over the last year, the Northern Correctional Institution population has not exceeded 100 individuals. Its all-time high population was 510 in January 2003.
“New prison admissions in Connecticut have declined significantly over the last decade and the incarcerated population is currently at a 32-year low,” Lamont said in a news release.
“This is even as violent, high-risk inmates are serving more of their original sentences than ever before. Spending millions of dollars annually to operate facilities for a population that continues to get smaller and smaller is not a good use of resources, especially as we work to reduce the cost structure of state government. I applaud the ongoing work of all the correctional professionals at the Department of Correction, who keep our facilities safe and secure.”
Source: masslive.com, Staff, June 15, 2021
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