Date: Fri 15-Nov-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

Garner-Acosta-Beres

Full Text:

Garner Warden Reports `Things Are Going Well'

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

Newtown Public Safety Committee members this week received an update on

operations at Garner Correctional Institution, learning that the state's

sprawling high-security prison on Nunnawauk Road has been running smoothly

recently.

Garner Warden Remi Acosta, who took over from former Warden Frank Crose last

June, told safety committee members that Garner now houses approximately 740

inmates.

"Things are going well," Warden Acosta said as he knocked on the wood of a

wooden conference table. "They're going great, actually," he told committee

members at Garner Tuesday night.

State Senator Fred Lovegrove, a safety committee member, said the state

Department of Correction (DOC) appears to be functioning more smoothly than it

has in years.

Warden Acosta agreed the department is running well. "Now we have the tools to

control gang members," the warden said.

"The philosophy has changed. Public safety is number one," the warden said.

"There's been a change at the top," he noted.

After being elected in 1994, Governor John Rowland appointed John Armstrong as

DOC commissioner.

Larry Meachum had served as DOC commissioner under former Governor Lowell

Weicker. Some members of the public often criticized Mr Meachum as too lenient

in controlling DOC inmates, resulting in prison control problems.

Since August 1993, when there was a double escape from Garner, prison security

has greatly improved, said First Selectman Robert Cascella, a safety committee

member. "The system's working," he said.

That double escape and a major prison riot in April 1993 alarmed Newtown

residents about the safety risks posed by Garner. Public fears led the DOC to

improve security at Garner both physically, and also by practicing stricter

prisoner handling methods.

Of the 740 inmates in Garner, almost half, or 360 men, are being held in

"close custody," Warden Acosta said. The DOC uses the close custody program to

physically isolate prison gang leaders who have posed prison violence

problems. If prisoners successfully complete the program, they are allowed to

join a general prison population elsewhere in the state prison system.

So far, approximately 330 inmates have completed the close custody program

which is geared to having inmates denounce their ties to crime-based gangs,

according to the warden. "The program is really working for us, for everyone,"

he said.

About 165 Garner inmates are categorized as "general population" prisoners,

the warden said.

The remainder of Garner inmates are housed in "mental health" cellblocks where

they receive psychiatric treatment while incarcerated.

About 24 correction officers will be transferred to Garner and five correction

officers will be transferred out, Warden Acosta said.

Resident Wendy Beres, a safety committee member, asked whether the staffing

changes will satisfy correction officers who have complained that recent

reduced staffing levels at Garner have compromised their safety.

Warden Acosta said there never was a staffing problem at Garner, but he added

that the planned changes will help the staffing situation at the prison.

Safety committee members learned the prison is working with state police from

the Troop A Barracks in Southbury to set procedures for prison emergencies.

Low-flying airplanes will be used to photograph the prison grounds for

emergency planning purposes.

Of the state's ongoing contract talks with the correction officers' union,

Warden Acosta said the discussions are going "great," adding he expects a new

labor contract will be settled soon.

Inmate Uniforms

As she has in the past, Wendy Beres urged that inmates in the general prison

population be required to wear highly recognizable prison uniforms so that if

they escape from the institution, they can be easily identified by the public.

The general prison population and mental health inmates now wear khaki/brown

uniforms which look like ordinary work clothes. While being transported to and

from Garner, prisoners wear orange jumpsuits. Inmates in close custody in

Garner wear bright yellow jumpusits. Prisoners who are in restricted housing

sections of Garner for discipline problems wear red jumpsuits.

Mrs Beres urged that prisoners who now wear brown/khaki uniforms, instead wear

some type of highly recognizable uniforms to aid the public in identifying

them in the event they escape.

Warden Acosta said he will obtain DOC information on prisoner clothing

policies for Mrs Beres' review.

Mile Hill Road South

Mrs Beres told her fellow safety committee members that with the presence of

Garner, Mile Hill Road South has become a "thoroughfare" which carries much

traffic.

Her family often passes Garner when traveling from Newtown High School to her

Turkey Hill Road home, she said.

On one occasion, a Garner employee attempted to pass her vehicle on Mile Hill

Road South, a narrow road with blind curves, she said. Mrs Beres asked that

Garner employees obey the speed limit on that street.

Warden Acosta told Mrs Beres he'll inform Garner staff members to drive

carefully on the hazardous road. The road is often used by motorists as

shortcut between Sandy Hook and Botsford.