Date: Fri 30-May-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

Garner-Turning-Point-

Full Text:

Garner Program Reaches Out To Students Facing `A Turning Point'

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

Garner Correctional Institution, the state's high-security prison on Nunnawauk

Road, has begun a program known as The Turning Point to teach students that

they are faced throughout their lives with choices, which, if made badly, can

lead to incarceration.

Garner Deputy Warden Richard Miele told members of the Newtown Public Safety

Committee Wednesday that in the project selected prisoners visit schools in

the region to discuss issues that lead to incarceration.

Also, Garner allows limited numbers of students from various schools to tour

the sprawling facility to provide them with a realistic sense of prison life.

Through the program, the state Department of Correction (DOC) is seeking to

convince young people to make correct choices as they progress through life,

the deputy warden said.

In order for Garner inmates to visit schools to discuss incarceration and the

actions that lead up to it, the prisoners must be low security risks and on

the verge of being discharged from the prison, explained Warden Remi Acosta.

Garner seeks to have a diverse group of inmates visit the schools, he said.

Students who visit Garner often come from so-called "alternative schools," or

schools which are run for students who do not function well in conventional

educational settings, Mr Miele said.

Such students are given the opportunity to see inmates serving life sentences

to give them a clear sense of what it means, he said.

"It really impacts the young adults," he said.

"It's all reality. We are trying to explain the reality of life," he said.

Inmates who speak to the students discuss their gang influences and the effect

those influences have had on their lives, said DOC Captain Jon Masella.

A group of Ridgefield students recently toured Garner.

Safety committee member Joy Previdi urged Garner officials to have students

from diverse backgrounds visit the institution.

The Turning Point is being run to expose a broader public to the role and

function of the DOC, Mr Acosta said.

Fire Marshal

In another matter, public safety committee members met David Hardt, a Garner

correction officer who has been sworn in by the town as a special deputy fire

marshal to oversee fire safety issues at the prison.

Mr Hardt is also a deputy fire chief for Watertown and a deputy fire marshal

for Bethlehem.

The DOC sent Mr Hardt to a six-month course at the State Police Training

Academy to qualify him as a state-certified fire marshal.

Mr Hardt also handles US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

issues at the prison and elevator inspections and kitchen safety.

Mr Hardt makes a weekly tour of the prison to check on fire-related equipment,

Mr Miele said.

The DOC is beginning to prosecute inmates who damage state prisons, Mr Hardt

said. One inmate who recently broke a fire sprinkler head has been charged

with criminal mischief, he said.

Inmates also will be held liable to cover the costs of repairing damage they

have done, Capt Masella said.