Location Somers, Connecticut Status Open Phone +1 860-763-8600 Opened March 1995 | Coordinates Northern CI Security class Level 5 (Maximum) Capacity 227 | |
Managed by Connecticut Department of Correction Director 1995-1995 David May 1995-1996 Robert Kupec 1996-1999 Giovanny Gomez 1999-2003 Larry J. Myers 2003-2006 Wayne Choinski 2006-2009 Jeffrey McGill 2009-2011 Angel Quiros 2011-2014 Edward Maldonado
2014- Anne Cournoyer Address 287 Bilton Rd, Somers, CT 06071, USA | ||
Northern Correctional Institution (NCI) is a high-security state prison in Somers, in the northern part of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The prison houses the state's male death row inmates and convicts serving long sentences for violent crimes.
Contents
It is the designated restrictive housing facility for the Connecticut Department of Correction, managing those inmates who have demonstrated a serious inability to adjust to confinement, particularly those that pose a threat to the safety and security of the community, staff, and other inmates.
The institution Group Safety Threat Member program was relocated from the Garner Correctional Institution in order to centralize restrictive housing functions. In response to this, and with a commensurate increase in the number of young offenders, the facility more than doubled the size of its educational staff in order to serve those inmates who fall under federal mandates and require special education.
History
The Northern C.I. was completed in January 1995 and received its first inmates in March 1995. Also in 1995, Connecticut's death row inmates were moved to the Northern C.I. from the Osborn Correctional Institution.
In February 1997, the Chronic Disciplinary Unit arrived at Northern.
In November 1999, the Security Risk Group Threat population arrived.
In August 2000, Warden Larry J. Myers's face was slashed by inmate John Barletta, leaving him seriously injured. Barletta was serving 60 years for a 1992 drive-by shooting murder in Norwalk and life in prison without parole for the murder of his cellmate in 1999 at Garner Correctional Institution in Newtown, Connecticut.
In November 2000, the Chronic Disciplinary Unit was removed from the facility.
In September 2004, the Chronic Disciplinary Unit was returned to the facility.
As of July 1, 2014, the prison has 258 inmates(178 Accused 80 Sentenced). The prison is controlled by 310 personnel from the Connecticut Department of Correction under the supervision of Warden Anne Courvoyer and Deputy Warden William Mulligan.
Death row and "Old Sparky"
Connecticut legislated lethal injection as its sole method of execution in 1995. The last person executed by electrocution was Joseph "Mad Dog" Taborsky in May 1960. Connecticut's "Old Sparky" has not been tested since it was moved from Wethersfield to the Somers State Prison (1962-1994), Osborn Correctional Institution (1994–present) in Somers in 1962, and prison officials claim the prison's electrical system cannot handle it.