Enfield prison tops list of possible closings

By Ed Jacovino

Journal Inquirer

The Enfield Correctional Institution is the “leading candidate” to close in the coming fiscal year under a budget deal struck between Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and legislative leaders, the Correction Department commissioner said Tuesday.

The prison is one of the state’s oldest and most “staff-heavy,” making it expensive to operate, Commissioner Leo C. Arnone said. But he was hesitant to say it definitely would be the prison to close.

“Enfield is a candidate today — however, if our population reduces at a greater rate than it’s presently going, that could conceivably be another facility,” Arnone said.

The budget agreement reached last week between Malloy, who’s a Democrat, and Democratic legislative leaders calls for closing a prison before July 2012. The closure, combined with other changes aimed at decreasing the prison population, would save $16.2 million in the budget’s first year and $33.6 million in the second.

The plans follow the decision to shutter another prison — Gates Correctional Institution in East Lyme — which is expected to close in June.

Prisons are closing because of a steadily declining inmate population, Arnone said. Malloy also has proposed efforts to offer alternatives to prison for some offenders and to allow for the early release of others.

The prison guard union already is mounting its attack against the moves. Early release means putting criminals on the streets, they say.

Enfield Correctional is a minimum- and medium-security prison with some 700 inmates, according to the most recent figures. About 250 correction officers work there.

Arnone doesn’t expect layoffs. Employees at Enfield Correctional would be redirected to vacancies within the department, he said.

The state’s prison population averages about 17,628, according to a report this month. That’s down nearly 4 percent from the same time last year and set a 10-year low. The number of inmates has been declining since February 2008, when it reached 19,894.

Arnone said the reasons for that steady decline include an aging prison population, decreased recidivism, and inmates reaching the ends of their sentences.

New proposals before the legislature aim to accelerate the decline, Arnone added.

One plan lawmakers have proposed is called “intensive probation.” It would allow offenders to serve their sentences under house arrest or in a halfway house. State supervision would be double that of a normal probation, Arnone said. It could reduce the prison population by as many as 1,000 inmates in the first year alone, he said.

Malloy advanced another proposal, which would expand the early release program by enabling certain inmates to earn credits to reduce their sentences.

The aim is to keep violent offenders in prison but allow others to get out early, Arnone said. The program could offer credits for classes or programs that have been shown to cut recidivism, he said.

“It’s not a matter releasing dangerous people into the community,” Arnone said. “This is a trimming around the edges. It isn’t a huge release program.”

Prison guards disagree.

“By pushing these inmates out who aren’t ready, they’re just going to be back in — after harming the public,” said Jon Pepe, president of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Local 391, which represents correction officers at each of the prisons in north-central Connecticut.

The union is planning a campaign on TV, radio, and billboards with the slogan “savings over security” to criticize the plans. Lawmakers are too focused on saving money and not enough on public safety, Pepe said.

The campaign could resonate as the capital felony trial of Joshua Komisarjevsky begins. Komisarjevsky faces a possible death sentence for what prosecutors say was his role in the murder of a woman and her two daughters in a 2007 Cheshire home invasion. He and Stephen Hayes, who has been sentenced to Death Row for his role in the slayings, were on parole at the time of the murders.

The crimes led to a parole moratorium and toughened penalties for burglars and repeat violent offenders.

Sen. John A. Kissel, R-Enfield, represents a district with six prisons. He said Tuesday he’s “monitoring it very closely,” and plans to talk to prison guards about their concerns.