Garner Correctional Institution Warden Amonda Hannah met with members of the town’s Public Safety Committee on March 3, updating them on activities at the state Department of Correction’s (DOC) 260,100-square-foot high-security facility at 50 Nunnawauk Road.

It was a quarterly meeting of the group, which was formed in the early 1990s to keep open the lines of communication between town officials and top-level management at the prison.

Warden Hannah told committee members that on March 3, Garner held 543 male inmates. Of that number, 410 men are sentenced inmates, and 133 are awaiting the disposition of their criminal cases, either through trials or plea agreements.

The unsentenced inmates are those who are occasionally transported to and from the prison to court appearances as their cases work their way through the criminal justice system.

Garner is rated as a Level 4 or high-security prison in the DOC prison system, in which Level 5 is the highest level, known as maximum security. On March 3 in Garner, there were 11 Level 5 inmates, 426 Level 4 prisoners, 76 Level 3 inmates, 28 Level 2 prisoners, and two Level 1 inmates, the warden said.

Garner is the state prison that specializes in housing and treating inmates with chronic mental health problems. On March 3, somewhat more than half of the inmates, or 283 men, were being housed in the building’s mental health quarters, while 260 inmates were listed as general population prisoners, the warden said.

Warden Hannah told committee members that Garner is at 93 percent of its staffing level, with the goal of reaching 95 percent staffing.

The warden said that fortunately no inmates have influenza.

To stress the value of preventative measures against infection, the prison posts signs in its visitors lobby and in its inmate areas offering steps be taken to stem the spread of disease, Warden Hannah said.

“We always take precautions at the facility,” she said. Such measures include hand washing, covering coughs, and maintaining sanitary conditions, she said.

In another matter, Warden Hannah reported that progress is being made on a project to provide inmates with tablet computers that could be connected to an internal computer network with limited, controlled content. Computer wiring is underway at the building.

It is expected that inmates, who would pay a private firm for access to the prison computer network, would have tablets by this summer, she said.

Garner opened in November 1992. The sprawling building is located on a 118-acre parcel that was part of the Fairfield Hills campus.