Northern Correctional Institution 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 convicts serving long sentences for violent crimes and it housed the death row for inmates before the abolition of the death penalty in Connecticut. 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' 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. The prison is controlled by 310 personnel from the Connecticut Department of Correction under the supervision of Warden Anne Cournoyer and Deputy Warden William Mulligan.
As both of these men were on death row and the death penalty has been abolished, they are considered regular inmates. Due to the severity of their crimes, it was deemed unsafe to house them in the Connecticut DOC. Both have been moved to maximum security facilities in Pennsylvania.
