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December 27, 2006
CT: State Prisons Bulging Again
State prisons bulging again, but Rell says situation improving
December 26, 2006
HARTFORD, Conn. --State officials say Connecticut's prison population has again boomed to the level it was three years ago when overcrowding forced the state to ship some prisoners to Virginia.
But Gov. M. Jodi Rell, who praised state correction officials for handling the recent increase without incident, said Tuesday that she believes the population is now starting to drop again.
Figures show that the increase, which comes after three years of decline, is especially sharp among prisoners awaiting trial.
The prison population jumped from about 17,700 in 2001 to 19,200 in 2003. It was less than 10,000 in 1990.
The big increase spurred lawmakers to examine alternatives to prison, especially for drug addicts and nonviolent offenders.
The population steadily declined in 2004 and 2005, dipping below 18,000 again at the beginning of this year.
But it crept up to 18,500 in the middle of this year and surpassed 19,000 this fall, said Brian Garnett, a spokesman for the Department of Correction. The increase is due mostly to police roundups of gang members and other violent criminals in Hartford and New Haven, he said.
The state has had to house prisoners in gymnasiums at a few prisons, he said. State officials have asked federal immigration authorities if they can remove illegal immigrants from state prisons.
They've also asked judges in the state if they can release more defendants awaiting trial on nonviolent charges instead of jailing them on bond.
"It's not a mandate" to the judges, Garnett said. "But it's a way to give us some breathing room."
It would cut the number of inmates awaiting trial, a group that typically accounts for about 25 percent of the jail and prison population, Department of Correction statistics show.
State Rep. Michael Lawlor, D-East Haven, co-chairman of the legislature's Judiciary Committee and a former prosecutor, told The Advocate of Stamford that defendants who await trial in jail are more likely to receive a prison sentence from a judge than those who can afford to pay bond.
"If you come in off the street, you have a much better chance of getting probation than you do if you are in custody," he said.
Adam Liegeot, a spokesman for Rell, said Connecticut's prison population began decreasing in late summer.
"Gov. Rell has made it a priority to implement offender re-entry programs to ensure that those who have served their time and are released from prison will become productive, law-abiding citizens," Liegeot said. "Gov. Rell believes these re-entry efforts benefit both public safety and the taxpayer."
http://www.boston.com/news/local/connecticut/articles/2006/12/26/state_priso
ns_bulging_again/
Information from: The Advocate, http://www.stamfordadvocate.com
Posted by lois at December 27, 2006 09:34 AM