Many ‘Unsentenced’ Inmates Now

Bound For Garner Instead Of Big City Jails

By Andrew Gorosko

The nature of the prisoner population at Garner Correctional Institution has been changing, with the state now keeping more than 200 “unsentenced” inmates at the high security prison on Nunnawauk Road.

On April 4, of the 694 prisoners being held at Garner, 211 of them were unsentenced inmates, said state Department of Correction (DOC) spokeswoman Heather Ziemba.

“They’re [unsentenced inmates] there to ease the high populations in the jails,” Ms Ziemba said, noting there are inmate crowding pressures in state jails in Bridgeport, New Haven, and Hartford.

The DOC has designated two prisoner cellblocks at Garner to house unsentenced inmates, Ms Ziemba said. Whether the number of unsentenced inmates held at Garner will increase depends on the future needs of the DOC, she said.

Unsentenced inmates are prisoners who have been charged and are being held on bond waiting for a trial, or are inmates who have been convicted of crimes and are awaiting sentencing.

Space to house the unsentenced inmates at Garner became available after the state began a prisoner transfer project to a Virginia state prison last fall, Ms Ziemba said.

Since October, the DOC has transferred 480 inmates to Wallen’s Ridge State Correctional Facility in Big Stone Gap, Virginia. Of the 480 inmates transferred there, 119 prisoners were from Garner. The DOC transferred some of its most difficult inmates to alleviate crowding pressures in the Connecticut prison system.

Ms Ziemba said unsentenced inmates receive more privileges than sentenced inmates. They are allowed to have more visits in prison than sentenced inmates, she said, adding, though, that that does not necessarily mean they will get more visitors.

Also, the presence of unsentenced inmates in Garner means there are many more prisoner trips in and out of Garner for court appearances, she said.

Garner, which opened in November 1992, formerly served as the DOC’s prime facility for housing prison gang members. That function has shifted to Northern Correctional Institution in Somers. Garner will now serve as the state’s prime prison for inmates with mental health problems, consolidating that function for the DOC in Newtown. Inmates who need more mental health treatment than can be provided at Garner will be sent to Whiting Forensic Institute in Middletown.

Garner was built to hold more than 700 inmates.

Town officials and state legislators representing the town plan to stay informed of the DOC’s intentions to create additional prison space, with the goal of preventing the DOC from building that prison space in Newtown.

The state legislature recently turned down a DOC initiative to create more prison space in New Haven. The agency is expected to again seek to expand its facilities to deal with an increasing prisoner population.

In a March letter to DOC Commisioner John Armstrong, First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal wrote, “Any attempt to build a second facility or a major expansion of the existing Garner facility will be strongly opposed by the Town of Newtown, and any political might that we can assemble will be used.”