HARTFORD, Conn. (WTIC Radio)—The Connecticut Department of Correction plans to close the state's only supermax prison, Northern Correctional Institution, due to a significant drop in the state's incarcerated population.
"New prison admissions in Connecticut have declined significantly over the last decade, and the incarcerated population is currently at a 32-year-low," Governor Ned Lamont said when he announced the plans Monday.
According to state officials, Connecticut's prison population decreased by about 3,300 over the last ten months.
Currently, Northern houses 65 people and has not reached over 100 people since last July. Northern housed 510 people at its peak in 2003, state officials said.
"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," Lamont said.
The state will save about $12.6 million in annual operating costs, according to officials.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Connecticut applauds the move, after fighting for the rights of the inmates in Northern.
"It's a significant win. This is a facility that was designed to really break people down. It is a very cruel facility," Executive Director David McGuire of the ACLU of Connecticut said.
However, the ACLU of Connecticut is going to call on the Lamont Administration to reallocate those operating funds toward helping those communities most impacted by mass incarceration.
The funds can go toward programs that offer housing, mental health, medical care, or education services, McGuire said.
"We know that Northern in particular has been a facility that has largely been filled with Black and brown folks, and we know that they and their communities have been hurt badly by this facility and mass incarceration. So, we're calling for justice reinvestment here," McGuire said.
Despite the announcement, McGuire said the ACLU of Connecticut will continue to move forward with a lawsuit filed late last week that concerns the treatment of people with mental illness within Northern.
The facility's current population will be relocated to other facilities within the state's systems, state officials said. Also, the closure will not result in any layoffs, they said.
Northern is expected to close by July 1, 2021.
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