DOC Preparing To Activate Prison Warning System

By Andrew Gorosko

State Department of Correction (DOC) officials are preparing to activate an automated, telephone-based warning system that would alert interested residents about serious incidents that occur at Garner Correctional Institution, the state’s high-security prison at 50 Nunnawauk Road.

Members of the Public Safety Committee for Garner Correctional Institution discussed the prison warning system at a December 13 session.

The ad hoc panel meets quarterly to discuss public safety issues posed by the presence of Garner, a 245,000-square-foot facility that opened in November 1992. Garner held 584 inmates on December 13, of which 476 are categorized as mental health prisoners, and 108 are listed as “general population” inmates. Garner is a “Level 4” prison in a prison system in which the highest security is Level 5. Garner has about 300 staff members.

The prison on a 110-acre site is set well back from Nunnawauk Road, behind a stand of evergreens and is not readily visible from the street. State police respond to Garner on a regular basis to investigate various criminal offenses that occur among its violent prisoner population.

DOC Major Timothy Farrell attended the December 13 committee meeting to represent Garner Warden James Dzurenda.

Major Farrell told committee members the DOC is preparing to activate the prison warning system soon.

Town police have been collecting the names and telephone numbers of people interested in being notified in the event of a prison emergency.

Police Lieutenant James Mooney said December 14 that 34 people have submitted their names, informing police that they want to be called in the event of a prison emergency. Police are still accepting names for placement on the calling list, he said.

The automatic dialing equipment used in the warning system will sequentially call people on the calling list based on a need-to-know priority list. Each person will hear a prerecorded message describing the nature of the emergency underway at the prison. An ensuing call would inform people when the emergency is over. The warning system also will place monthly test calls to its users to gauge its reliability. Such automated warning systems are in use at other state prisons.

The prerecorded message would inform people of emergencies such as prison fires, prisoner riots, prisoner escapes, and the evacuation of prisoners from Garner for problems such as natural gas leaks, Warden Durand has said.

There is no fee to be placed on the calling list. Only local telephone numbers may be placed on the calling list. Cellular telephone numbers will be placed on the calling list, provided that they are local telephone numbers.

The warning system will generate a printed list of those people that the system was able to reach to inform them of a prison emergency, Major Farrell said.

The warning system will be activated in cases where there would be a large emergency response to the prison grounds, Major Farrell said. Such incidents would include the use of the Life Star helicopter for airborne medical evacuations. The prison has a helipad.

Besides the automated warning system, prison officials place individual telephone calls to certain municipal officials in the event of a prison emergency.

Prison officials will be sending test messages to people on the calling list to ensure that the system is functioning properly.

To apply to be on the calling list, residents may call the police station at 426-5841 and request that an application form be mailed to them. Also, residents may request an application by mail from police at Newtown Police Department, 3 Main Street, Newtown CT 06470.

Also, residents may obtain a e-form to apply to be on the calling at the police’s website at  www.newtown-ct.gov/Public_Documents/NewtownCT_Police/CALL_SYSTEM.pdf.

In 1993, Garner experienced a prison riot, plus a nighttime escape of two inmates. The DOC later heightened security to forestall such incidents.

Following those early emergencies at Garner, the DOC created a prison warning system based on the use of alphanumeric pagers or “beepers.” That warning system started in 1994, but has fallen out of use.

By 2001, during a test of that beeper system conducted by police, only two beeper users responded to a test message that sought a response from beeper system users.

Public safety committee members later surmised that the beepers may simply be sitting in people’s drawers unused and unreplenished with fresh batteries, may have been discarded, or may have left town with residents who moved away.

After it became apparent that the beeper system was no longer an effective way to notify people of prison emergencies, public safety committee members considered installing a warning siren for public notification of prison emergencies, but dropped that idea, later settling on an automated telephone call warning system.