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| Conn. Officers Accuse Officials of Exaggerating Prison Crowding |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 06/17/2002 |
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State correction officers are accusing their bosses of exaggerating prison crowding to win legislative approval and funding for construction projects. Officers say Department of Correction officials are manipulating inmate security levels to overstate the crowding problem. The allegations come after lawmakers approved spending more than $50 million on prison expansions in Somers and Suffield. The state has spent more than $1 billion during the last decade to build and expand prisons. Correction Department officials deny the claims, saying larger prisons are needed to protect the public. The agency is making the prison system appear more crowded than it is by putting too many inmates in high-security cells, the correction officers' union and other critics charge. Officers say their safety is being jeopardized by the alleged practice. Union officials, who agree that Connecticut's prisons are near capacity, say correction officials are manipulating inmates' security levels to push some facilities past capacity. Department of Correction statistics show that inmates labeled as high- and medium-security have accounted for about two-thirds of the prison population since 1997. Union officials contend the number is high given that violent crime has been declining nationally for the past decade, and that 70 percent of all offenders are sentenced to less than three years in prison. Correction Commissioner John A. Armstrong denies the union's charges. Armstrong said emergency space is needed because the prison system already has about 850 offenders sleeping in common areas such as gymnasiums and office spaces. Renee La Mark Muir, principal analyst for the state's Legislative Program Review and Investigation Committee and one of the authors of the state's study on prison crowding, supports the union's argument. She agrees that prison officials want to build more facilities, and that crowding has helped them. La Mark Muir said the department's policy of housing all pre-sentenced inmates in high-security beds no matter the charge or history adds to the shortage of high-security beds. Joey R. Weedon, manager of governmental affairs for the American Correctional Association, said Connecticut's expansion of facilities is out of step with what's going on in most of the country. He said many states are repealing strict drug laws and more offenders are being sentenced to alternatives to prison. |
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