Record-Journal
09-25-2007, 01:50 AM
HARTFORD -- Calling it a crisis, state Rep. Michael Lawlor said Monday he wants Gov. M. Jodi Rell to appear before his committee next week to explain her plan for housing additional prisoners in the state.
Less alarmed, Rell declined and said state officials are aware of the issue.
Rell said her long-term efforts will be determined by the work of the Judiciary Committee, which Lawlor chairs, and the Sentencing and Parole Review Task Force, which she chartered.
Both groups are reviewing the state’s criminal justice system after the horrific killing of a mother and her two daughters in Cheshire two months ago.
Two career criminals, both out on parole, are being held as suspects in the July 23 homicides.
Since then, the number of prison inmates is up by about 280, said Lawlor, an East Haven Democrat, in part because the parole process has slowed.
The state’s jails are already full, but Rell banned the granting of parole to all violent offenders Friday, a move that followed the arrest of a state parolee in New York City who was shot after he allegedly threatened police.
Lawlor said he agreed with the ban, but is concerned the state will need to take action in order to house more prisoners.
Rell “has the ability to open an additional 758 (beds) here in Connecticut in the next few months,” Lawlor said at a press conference at the state Capitol complex.
That count includes 500 beds at the North Block of Cheshire Correctional Institution.
The North Block was built in 1910, and has long been vacant, but the state is renovating it for emergency use.
Rell spokesman Richard Harris said there’s no plan to house inmates there, but the talk of it alone upset state Rep. Mary Fritz. A Wallingford Democrat who also represents Cheshire, Fritz said she’s against bringing more prisoners to the town.
“What’s going to happen to the sewage treatment plant in Cheshire?” she asked.
“The state had to pay the town $500,000 this year and $250,000 last year because the effluent from the prison was 100,000 more gallons than they agreed to in 1991, and the town had to put in a moratorium on new development two years ago. This is going to make it so difficult, they’re going to have to shut down everything they do in Cheshire.”
Other towns should shoulder the burden, Fritz said, or the state could send additional inmates out of state, as it did from 2000 to 2004 to ease overcrowding.
“I put it at the bottom of a bill somewhere in the 1990s that the North Block was only for use in emergencies,” Fritz said. “Emergencies would mean a fire or a riot at another facility.”
Harris said Monday Rell has no plans to ship inmates elsewhere or to open more beds in the state beyond the 225 already under construction at Carl Robinson Correctional Institution in Enfield.
Instead, Rell has ordered the Department of Correction to review the files of 1,200 “level one” inmates to identify non-violent offenders who might qualify for community release programs, and thus free up more beds.
“The Rell administration expects to be able to take these steps without requiring additional appropriations,” Harris said, “without expanding capacity beyond what’s already under way in Enfield, and certainly without sending prisoners out of state.”
Rell has taken credit for her decision in 2004 to end the practice of exporting prisoners.
But Lawlor said additional supervision would require money to pay for more parole officers and global positioning equipment in the form of ankle bracelets used to monitor parolees.
“It is estimated that for every 30 people you put on GPS monitoring, you have to hire another parole officer,” Lawlor said.
Less alarmed, Rell declined and said state officials are aware of the issue.
Rell said her long-term efforts will be determined by the work of the Judiciary Committee, which Lawlor chairs, and the Sentencing and Parole Review Task Force, which she chartered.
Both groups are reviewing the state’s criminal justice system after the horrific killing of a mother and her two daughters in Cheshire two months ago.
Two career criminals, both out on parole, are being held as suspects in the July 23 homicides.
Since then, the number of prison inmates is up by about 280, said Lawlor, an East Haven Democrat, in part because the parole process has slowed.
The state’s jails are already full, but Rell banned the granting of parole to all violent offenders Friday, a move that followed the arrest of a state parolee in New York City who was shot after he allegedly threatened police.
Lawlor said he agreed with the ban, but is concerned the state will need to take action in order to house more prisoners.
Rell “has the ability to open an additional 758 (beds) here in Connecticut in the next few months,” Lawlor said at a press conference at the state Capitol complex.
That count includes 500 beds at the North Block of Cheshire Correctional Institution.
The North Block was built in 1910, and has long been vacant, but the state is renovating it for emergency use.
Rell spokesman Richard Harris said there’s no plan to house inmates there, but the talk of it alone upset state Rep. Mary Fritz. A Wallingford Democrat who also represents Cheshire, Fritz said she’s against bringing more prisoners to the town.
“What’s going to happen to the sewage treatment plant in Cheshire?” she asked.
“The state had to pay the town $500,000 this year and $250,000 last year because the effluent from the prison was 100,000 more gallons than they agreed to in 1991, and the town had to put in a moratorium on new development two years ago. This is going to make it so difficult, they’re going to have to shut down everything they do in Cheshire.”
Other towns should shoulder the burden, Fritz said, or the state could send additional inmates out of state, as it did from 2000 to 2004 to ease overcrowding.
“I put it at the bottom of a bill somewhere in the 1990s that the North Block was only for use in emergencies,” Fritz said. “Emergencies would mean a fire or a riot at another facility.”
Harris said Monday Rell has no plans to ship inmates elsewhere or to open more beds in the state beyond the 225 already under construction at Carl Robinson Correctional Institution in Enfield.
Instead, Rell has ordered the Department of Correction to review the files of 1,200 “level one” inmates to identify non-violent offenders who might qualify for community release programs, and thus free up more beds.
“The Rell administration expects to be able to take these steps without requiring additional appropriations,” Harris said, “without expanding capacity beyond what’s already under way in Enfield, and certainly without sending prisoners out of state.”
Rell has taken credit for her decision in 2004 to end the practice of exporting prisoners.
But Lawlor said additional supervision would require money to pay for more parole officers and global positioning equipment in the form of ankle bracelets used to monitor parolees.
“It is estimated that for every 30 people you put on GPS monitoring, you have to hire another parole officer,” Lawlor said.