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| State returning prison inmates from Virginia |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 08/26/2004 |
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More than 400 Connecticut prison inmates housed in a Virginia prison will be returned to the state by year's end, Gov. M. Jodi Rell said Wednesday. The announcement ends a five-year experiment transporting prisoners out-of-state that cost Connecticut taxpayers more than $60 million and led to two lawsuits over inmate deaths. The decision won bipartisan praise. Rell said 428 inmates imprisoned at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, Va., will be placed in open beds in Connecticut prisons. "Steps taken to reduce overcrowding in the state's correctional facilities have helped make it possible to bring our inmates back to Connecticut," Rell said. Correction Commissioner Theresa C. Lantz said sending inmates to Virginia was the result of more than a decade of growth in the number of inmates. She said it was cheaper to ship them out rather than build more prisons. Lantz said the state's prison population has dropped by about 500 over the past year, allowing for the return of the inmates from Virginia. Lawmakers had rehired laid-off probation workers and gave more money to prosecutors and probation officers to cut down on high caseloads, said Rep. Michael Lawlor, D-East Haven and co-chairman of the General Assembly's Judiciary Committee. Probation violations are responsible for driving up the prison population, he said. Since October 1999, up to 500 Connecticut inmates have been housed in Virginia to ease crowding. As of May, the state prison population was 18,500. Including those in transitional supervision, halfway houses and parole, 22,768 people were under Correction Department supervision. |
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