Proposed prison beds in CT

The MRJ and NHR are both reporting on new prison cells in Cheshire. The MRJ also mentions speculation that Meriden could get a prison. The NHR provides details on bed numbers across the state:

The prisons listed in the memo from Lena Ferguson, a legislative liaison with the corrections department, to Chris Reinhart of the state Office of Legislative Research are: the Cheshire Correctional Institution’s North Block, which could accommodate 504 beds; the J.B. Gates Correctional Institution in the Niantic section of East Lyme, which could accommodate 26 additional beds; and the Carl Robinson Correctional Institution in Enfield, which could accommodate 228 more beds.

Of the three prisons named in the memo, only the Carl Robinson Correctional Institution has improvements currently under way. Work to refurbish two sections of the prison started in June, with one 114-bed section scheduled to be occupied by Sept. 15 and the second section scheduled to opened by late October or early November.

The Cheshire prison North Block was closed in the early 1990s amid security concerns after several inmates escaped that section of the facility, which was originally built as a boys reformatory in 1910. Corrections officials closed the North Block after it was determined it would be too costly to update it. (by Luther Turmelle)

Tim White