High-Security Prison In Somers Slated For Closure

SOMERS, CT — For the second time in three years, the Connecticut Department of Correction (DOC) will be closing a facility on the Somers/Enfield town line, according to an announcement Monday by Gov. Ned Lamont.

The Northern Correctional Institution, a high-security prison which houses convicts serving long sentences for violent crimes and which contained death row until the state abolished the death penalty in 2012, is slated for closure by July 1.

A large drop in the state's prison population contributed to the decision to shutter Northern. Sixty-five inmates are currently housed there, down from its peak of 510 inmates in 2003. In the past 10 months, the overall decline of Connecticut's prison population numbers about 3,300, according to the DOC.

The closure of Northern, which opened on Bilton Road in Somers in March 1995, will save the state about $12.6 million in annual operating costs, according to the DOC.

"New prison admissions in Connecticut have declined significantly over the last decade, and the incarcerated population is currently at a 32-year low," Lamont said in a written statement. "This is even as violent, high-risk inmates are serving more of their original sentences than ever before. Spending millions of dollars annually to operate facilities for a population that continues to get smaller and smaller is not a good use of resources, especially as we work to reduce the cost structure of state government. I applaud the ongoing work of all the correctional professionals at the Department of Correction, who keep our facilities safe and secure."

Closure of Northern will not result in any job losses, as staff members will be moved to other nearby facilities. DOC Commissioner Angel Quiros said the agency's staff will be able to seamlessly relocate the population to other facilities.

"The significant reduction in the population at Northern speaks to our staff’s exceptional interpersonal skills, superior conflict resolution abilities, and overall understanding and application of criminal justice reform," Quiros said in a written statement. "I can’t thank them enough for all their hard work."

Enfield Correctional Institution, just a few hundred yards from Northern, was the most recent DOC closure, shutting its doors on Jan. 23, 2018.

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