Record-Journal
09-07-2007, 09:22 PM
MERIDEN -- Could the city be the site of a new prison?
It depends on whom you ask.
State Rep. Michael Lawlor, D-East Haven, co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee, gave the Office of Legislative Research a handful of criteria to conduct a search for state-owned properties that could potentially house a new prison.
The one site in Connecticut that filled the bill was the old Altobello Children and Youth Center off Chamberlain Highway.
The former adolescent psychiatric hospital is part of the 67-acre Undercliff property, which is also home to several Department of Mental Retardation facilities.
The city has been in talks with DMR about possibly relocating those facilities so the city can reclaim the property for commercial development, though no agreement was ever reached.
Those discussions have already created some tension, and state Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, who co-chairs the Judiciary Committee with Lawlor, said he expects any conversations about putting a prison anywhere, including Meriden, will be contentious.
“But if it does come to pass that the state needs to build more prisons, we certainly look to land already owned by the state for siting such a facility,” McDonald said.
“I am not advocating for this Meriden facility to be turned into a prison,” Lawlor said.
“What I am saying is that we must make sure that we have adequate capacity for whatever policy changes we make. Already, the prison population is growing, and if the current trend continues for several more months, we will need at least one more prison, in addition to the 758 beds we discussed yesterday.
“So, I don’t want there to be a new prison, but I believe we must provide adequate capacity for whatever prison population is projected based on the policy decisions we make.”
A hearing on the criminal judicial process, including prosecution, sentencing and parole, is scheduled for Tuesday at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford.
Department of Correction Commissioner Teresa Lantz is one of several speakers on the agenda. Lawlor expects she will have much more detail on projected growth in the inmate population.
The criteria Lawlor gave OLR were that the property must be at least 10 acres, state-owned, currently vacant, not set aside for a park or open space, and reasonably close to utilities.
The only site that fit all those criteria was the Altobello facility, but House Majority Leader Christopher Donovan, D-Meriden, said “if you enter a different set of variables, you’ll get different results.”
“Hell would freeze over before (the Undercliff property) would ever house a prison,” said state Sen. Thomas Gaffey, D-Meriden. “The center of Connecticut — Meriden, Middletown and Cheshire — have done far more than their share. It’s time to look elsewhere.”
According to Pat O’Brien, a planning specialist at the Office of Policy and Management, who conducted the search, the buildings on the Altobello site are empty and would have to be torn down rather than re-used.
The hospital was last used as a Department of Children and Families lock-down center for juvenile boys until it was closed in 1997.
“I was somewhat surprised that there is such a lack of other alternative sites,” said McDonald.
“Given the sensitivity surrounding the state’s use of eminent domain, we certainly would try to find surplus state land to locate any potential new prison. We haven’t gotten there yet, but there are a number of legislators calling for increased penalties for a whole range of crimes, and you can’t look at the policy without looking at the ramifications. The prison census is already beginning to skyrocket.”
Michael Cicchetti, deputy secretary of OPM, said his department “does not have a list of possible locations for new prisons, and is not considering, nor has it considered, the Meriden property for a possible prison.”
McDonald and Lawlor concurred that there is no plan to use the Meriden location, “but it’s the only one that’s been identified by the administration as an available location at this time,” said McDonald.
“During the last prison construction boom in the late ’80s and early ’90s, the legislature authorized construction of prisons using fast-track language that bypassed all the usual land use, traffic, zoning regulations,” Lawlor said.
“These were all built on an emergency basis and all were constructed over the objection of the host communities. In the present situation, we may need to get an additional two to three thousand beds on line in just a few years, which would mean authorization, design and funding would have to be put in place immediately, with construction beginning as soon as next year.”
Meriden Mayor Mark D. Benigni said he’s not about to let the city become home to a prison.
“It’s an absolutely ludicrous idea,” Benigni said. “The state should have maintained the beds in prisons in other states, but they let them go.”
But McDonald and Lawlor both say out-of-state and private prison options have faded as every state contends with prison overcrowding.
“For example, we sent 500 inmates to the Virginia DOC seven years ago, but they had a sizable prison-bed surplus at the time,” Lawlor said. “Now they, too, are overcrowded with their own inmates.”
Said McDonald: “The overarching question is ‘are we going to need additional capacity and, if so, what are the available locations?’ There’s nothing to prevent the state from going out and buying new land, but then where are you going to find the land, because once again, people don’t want a prison in their backyard.”
It depends on whom you ask.
State Rep. Michael Lawlor, D-East Haven, co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee, gave the Office of Legislative Research a handful of criteria to conduct a search for state-owned properties that could potentially house a new prison.
The one site in Connecticut that filled the bill was the old Altobello Children and Youth Center off Chamberlain Highway.
The former adolescent psychiatric hospital is part of the 67-acre Undercliff property, which is also home to several Department of Mental Retardation facilities.
The city has been in talks with DMR about possibly relocating those facilities so the city can reclaim the property for commercial development, though no agreement was ever reached.
Those discussions have already created some tension, and state Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, who co-chairs the Judiciary Committee with Lawlor, said he expects any conversations about putting a prison anywhere, including Meriden, will be contentious.
“But if it does come to pass that the state needs to build more prisons, we certainly look to land already owned by the state for siting such a facility,” McDonald said.
“I am not advocating for this Meriden facility to be turned into a prison,” Lawlor said.
“What I am saying is that we must make sure that we have adequate capacity for whatever policy changes we make. Already, the prison population is growing, and if the current trend continues for several more months, we will need at least one more prison, in addition to the 758 beds we discussed yesterday.
“So, I don’t want there to be a new prison, but I believe we must provide adequate capacity for whatever prison population is projected based on the policy decisions we make.”
A hearing on the criminal judicial process, including prosecution, sentencing and parole, is scheduled for Tuesday at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford.
Department of Correction Commissioner Teresa Lantz is one of several speakers on the agenda. Lawlor expects she will have much more detail on projected growth in the inmate population.
The criteria Lawlor gave OLR were that the property must be at least 10 acres, state-owned, currently vacant, not set aside for a park or open space, and reasonably close to utilities.
The only site that fit all those criteria was the Altobello facility, but House Majority Leader Christopher Donovan, D-Meriden, said “if you enter a different set of variables, you’ll get different results.”
“Hell would freeze over before (the Undercliff property) would ever house a prison,” said state Sen. Thomas Gaffey, D-Meriden. “The center of Connecticut — Meriden, Middletown and Cheshire — have done far more than their share. It’s time to look elsewhere.”
According to Pat O’Brien, a planning specialist at the Office of Policy and Management, who conducted the search, the buildings on the Altobello site are empty and would have to be torn down rather than re-used.
The hospital was last used as a Department of Children and Families lock-down center for juvenile boys until it was closed in 1997.
“I was somewhat surprised that there is such a lack of other alternative sites,” said McDonald.
“Given the sensitivity surrounding the state’s use of eminent domain, we certainly would try to find surplus state land to locate any potential new prison. We haven’t gotten there yet, but there are a number of legislators calling for increased penalties for a whole range of crimes, and you can’t look at the policy without looking at the ramifications. The prison census is already beginning to skyrocket.”
Michael Cicchetti, deputy secretary of OPM, said his department “does not have a list of possible locations for new prisons, and is not considering, nor has it considered, the Meriden property for a possible prison.”
McDonald and Lawlor concurred that there is no plan to use the Meriden location, “but it’s the only one that’s been identified by the administration as an available location at this time,” said McDonald.
“During the last prison construction boom in the late ’80s and early ’90s, the legislature authorized construction of prisons using fast-track language that bypassed all the usual land use, traffic, zoning regulations,” Lawlor said.
“These were all built on an emergency basis and all were constructed over the objection of the host communities. In the present situation, we may need to get an additional two to three thousand beds on line in just a few years, which would mean authorization, design and funding would have to be put in place immediately, with construction beginning as soon as next year.”
Meriden Mayor Mark D. Benigni said he’s not about to let the city become home to a prison.
“It’s an absolutely ludicrous idea,” Benigni said. “The state should have maintained the beds in prisons in other states, but they let them go.”
But McDonald and Lawlor both say out-of-state and private prison options have faded as every state contends with prison overcrowding.
“For example, we sent 500 inmates to the Virginia DOC seven years ago, but they had a sizable prison-bed surplus at the time,” Lawlor said. “Now they, too, are overcrowded with their own inmates.”
Said McDonald: “The overarching question is ‘are we going to need additional capacity and, if so, what are the available locations?’ There’s nothing to prevent the state from going out and buying new land, but then where are you going to find the land, because once again, people don’t want a prison in their backyard.”