Date: Fri 09-Jan-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

Garner-inmates-corrections

Full Text:

Scuffle At Garner Injures Three

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

An altercation in Garner Correctional Institution Monday evening resulted in

three correction officers being taken to Danbury Hospital for treatment of

injuries.

Just before 5 pm, two inmates were coming out of a shower room in a

high-security section of Garner when one of them, Maurice Flanagan, 28, of

Hartford, had words with correction officer Thomas Papcin of Ansonia.

They became involved in a scuffle, said state Department of Correction (DOC)

spokeswoman Captain Beverly Pace.

Papcin triggered his body alarm, resulting in two other correction officers

coming to his aid, the spokeswoman said.

The other inmate, Michael Gary, 30, of Hartford, then turned on those two

correction officers, becoming involved in a fight with them.

Flanagan is an unsentenced inmate who has been charged with murder. Gary also

is an unsentenced inmate who is charged with kidnapping with a firearm.

After correction officers got the incident under control, Flanagan and Gary

were put in a restricted housing section of Garner, Ms Pace said. They were

later transported to Northern Correctional Institution in Somers, the DOC's

super high security prison known as "supermax."

Following the altercation, prison personnel transported the three injured

correction officers to Danbury Hospital for treatment of injuries.

Correction officer Rudy Paul of Waterbury received a torn retina, Ms Pace

said. Papcin and correction officer Mark Jaffer of Waterbury each received

broken noses.

Correction officer Orlando Saavedra, who did not go to the hospital, suffered

a sprained wrist.

No weapons were used in the altercation, Ms Pace said.

State police are investigating the case and arrests of the inmates are

expected. The DOC is conducting an internal investigation.

The DOC will prosecute any inmates who assault correction officers, Ms Pace

said.

Union Issue

David LaPointe, the chief steward of Garner's correction officers' union, said

Wednesday prison staff members transported the injured officers to Danbury

Hospital because it would have been time-consuming for them to wait for

ambulances to come from Danbury to pick them up. Mr LaPointe is

president-elect of the union. He takes office January 14.

Mr LaPointe said Mr Paul's eye appears to be improving after emergency surgery

to mend the torn retina.

"These officers did their job. It's an unfortunate incident," Mr LaPointe

said.

It's unfortunate that when there's the need for an ambulance at Garner, the

injured parties have to wait for an ambulance to come from Danbury, he said.

Mr LaPointe said the union will seek to have the Newtown Volunteer Ambulance

Corps provide coverage at Garner. He said he plans to send letters to the

ambulance corps and the first selectman on the matter.

After the prison opened in November 1992, there was protracted discussion

among town officials over the town's providing emergency services at Garner.

The ambulance corps eventually got the state Office of Emergency Medical

Services to revise the corps' emergency coverage area. The coverage area now

excludes the Fairfield Hills property and Garner.

Those areas are covered by a private Danbury ambulance service under the terms

of agreement between the state and the service. Attempts by the Danbury

ambulance service to locate an ambulance garage in Newtown to speed up

ambulance runs to Garner have proved fruitless.

After Garner opened, ambulance corps members expressed strong reservations

about going to the prison to transport prisoners to Danbury Hospital,

explaining that they feared for their personal safety.

Mr LaPointe explained the prison has what is known as a "sally port," or

structure that would prevent ambulance staff members from entering the prison

proper to pick up a patient for transport.

"The health and safety of the [prison] staff is in jeopardy," Mr LaPointe

said.