Garner Training Drill Planned;

Cellblock Transition Slated

By Andrew Gorosko

The state Department of Correction (DOC) plans to conduct a full-scale training exercise at Garner Correctional Institution on Nunnawauk Road this fall to prepare prison staffers and emergency services personnel in the area for the possibility of prison emergencies at the 245,000-square-foot high security facility.

Garner Deputy Warden Scott Semple told members of the Public Safety Committee for Garner Correctional Institution on September 2 that the drill, which initially had been planned for last spring, has been delayed until this fall due to state budget constraints.

The last large scale training exercise at Garner took place in November 2004.

Prison staffers have already started preliminary training for the drill, Mr Semple said.

The DOC seeks to have such exercises be realistic simulations through which DOC personnel are able to gauge their relative strengths and weaknesses for handling prison emergencies, Mr Semple said.

Police Chief Michael Kehoe told Mr Semple that past town police participation in such drills has made for useful training.

Mr Semple said the planned drill “would be a simulated event [and] … likely would include a possible [inmate] escape.” The exercise also might involve a simulation of the prison receiving a suspicious powdery substance in the mail, he said.

Also, the training session may address the steps involved in the evacuation of a prisoner cellblock at Garner, he said. DOC officials will coordinate planning for the training project with state and local officials, he said.

Chief Kehoe said town police would participate in the Garner drill.

The town could use its Code Red emergency notification system to inform certain residents via automated telephone calls that a major training exercise would be underway at Garner, Chief Kehoe said.

Garner also has a telephone-based emergency notification for certain town residents, which it tests once a month.

Mr Semple said that the DOC would publicize the planned Garner training session in the press.

Transition

In other business at the September 2 session, Mr Semple told committee members that Garner held 562 male inmates that morning.

Of that number, 364 prisoners were categorized as mental health inmates, while the other 198 were listed as general population inmates.

For the past several years, Garner has been the state’s prime prison for holding and treating inmates with serious mental health problems. Garner contains 32 cells designated for inmates with acute mental problems who require much psychological attention.

The 364 prisoners with mental health issues currently held at Garner are classified as Mental Health 4 (MH-4) and Mental Health 5 (MH-5) inmates, meaning they have serious mental problems, Mr Semple said.

During the coming three months, Cellblock H at the prison, which holds about 90 inmates, will become a housing unit for Mental Health 3 (MH-3) inmates, or those prisoners considered to have moderate mental health issues, he said.

The MH-3 cellblock in Garner will serve as a housing unit where inmates will learn how to make the psychological transition which is necessary before they are transferred to another DOC prison where they will become general population inmates, Mr Semple said.

Converting Cellblock H into a housing unit for MH-3 inmates likely will occur by December, Mr Semple said.