No escape from Cell Block One

Nov 1, 2000 12:00 PM, DON GARBERA

Prisons in Connecticut use modern equipment to ensure maximum security.

Northern Correctional Institution is a level 5 maximum security prison - the highest level of security in the Connecticut Corrections system. It is a special management unit that deals with problem inmates brought here from throughout the state's prison system.

On any given day, the gray walls and green cell doors inside the Northern facility look exactly like the day before or the day after. This dismal place is home to people who chose to commit crimes more serious than most of us can comprehend.

Level 5 inmates have assaulted staff or other inmates, and are a threat to the general prison population. The facility is also home to Death Row inmates awaiting capital punishment, and includes a close-custody gang program. Gangs, whether formed on the outside or inside, are considered high-risk groups requiring special security attention. The facility includes a chronic discipline unit which houses numerous problem inmates. The goal of the unit is to change their behavior and return them to the general prison population.

In October of 2000, the Connecticut Department of Corrections marked 32 years since its inception. Its roots, however, date back more than 225 years to the Old Newgate Prison. The department is composed of 20 major correctional facilities in the state, one of which is the maximum security Northern Correctional Institution in Somers, Conn.

Connecticut's prison system is a success story. According to Connecticut Governor John G. Rowland, since 1994, escapes have dropped 6 percent, inmate-on-staff assaults have plunged 45 percent, inmate-on-inmate assaults have declined 28 percent, furloughs have fallen 95 percent, and inmate disciplines have dipped 11 percent - despite an accompanying 18 percent increase in the incarcerated population.

"These figures validate all the accolades received by our correctional professionals. Their performance illustrates their motto and adds a luster to its words: professionalism, respect, integrity, dignity and excellence," he continued.

"Currently, we have 478 inmates in six individual housing units we refer to as pods. They are housed one or two inmates to a cell - depending on how aggressive they are," says Larry J. Myers, warden of the Northern facility.

Inmates that pose the most serious risk are housed in Unit 1 for the first six months of their sentence. The cell block consists of 50 cells. The prisoners are in full restraints which include leg irons, handcuffs, and tether chains for all activities - including showers and recreation. They eat all meals within their cells; their meal trays are passed through small openings in the doors. Inmates are allowed one hour of recreation per day, which they take in a gray-stone walled room that has no furnishings or extraneous matter - just four walls, ceiling and floor. During recreation, they wear leg irons and handcuffs, but can do whatever they please.

Prisoners in Unit 1 must earn their way to Unit 2 - which is a little less restrictive. In Unit 2, they only wear handcuffs when in transit from one area of the facility to another. After 30 days in Unit 2, they can exit their cells without wearing restraints. During their stay in Unit 2, they receive group programming of no more than eight inmates to a group.

After their stay in Unit 2, they move on to Unit 3, where they can leave their cells at lunch time, go to recreation yards, and participate in some gym activities.

The physical security of the complex is its primary protection. There are barriers between perimeter walls that include a curved-in inner fence line made by First Defense, which is sometimes referred to as a MacDougal fence - named after Dr. Ellis MacDougal, the first commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Corrections. The middle fence is a taut-wire system that acts as a physical barrier and sensor. The outer fence is a regular security fence with razor wire coils at the top. The perimeter is outfitted with various alarm systems manufactured by Safe Guard, Southwest, and ACI.

Doors within buildings are manufactured by Southern Steel and are pneumatic. The heavy steel doors are maneuvered via a computer program manufactured by Receptors and are controlled by Unit Control located within the pods, as well as Central Control. Doors are all interlocked so you can't pass through the next door until the previous door is fully closed behind you.

Panasonic and Vicon fixed and pan/tilt/zoom cameras are located throughout the cell blocks. Control units house Vicon matrix switchers and multiplexers, as well as Vicon VCRs which record continuously. An Edwards Fire Alarm System is also part of the operation, along with a Central Sprinkler Corp. sprinkler system, and a TOA intercom system.

The correctional staff is outfitted with a Perimeter Products MX2000 personal body alarm system. Receivers are located throughout the facility and each body alarm acts as a transmitter. The body alarm incorporates a push-button and man-down capability. The man-down function is instantly activated when tilted to a certain position. Once a body alarm is activated in the Control Center, staff is sent to respond.

Upon entering the facility for the first time, all inmates are photographed on a proprietary imaging system developed within the Department of Corrections that works on a PC. From the PC, the images are uploaded each night to the state's mainframe computer. Images and information on an inmate can be instantly downloaded by the various state correctional agencies and law enforcement officials, including police officers in police cruisers using laptop computers. The photos are also used for lineup purposes by local police departments to show witnesses and victims of crimes.

Photographs, used for identification purposes, include front and profile pictures, as well as photos of any tattoos and scars. They are updated periodically, and whenever an inmate's facial features change, i.e., if an inmate grows a beard or shaves his head. The photos are also used when prisoners are being transported - to make certain it is the right inmate.

The Connecticut Department of Corrections employs a K-9 Tactical Operations Team comprised of volunteers recruited from the correctional staff. The dogs are used for mass movements of inmates such as going to and from recreation areas and work details, shakedowns, and cell extractions. Currently, 22 dogs are used, and three more are in training with the Connecticut State Police.

The dogs receive training in K-9 tactical operations, handler protection, searches for humans and objects, area searches, correctional patrolling, and firearms.

The Procedure For Emergency Response All the people within the Tactical Unit are on a pager system. They are basically the 911 response to a call - and rush in for all emergencies 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

They have handled incidents such as a large scale disturbance that occurred at one of the facilities in which many inmates were virtually running free. Once on site, the team received a briefing and formulated a plan. They had to enter the compound, and search and re-secure seven cell blocks.

The tactical team uses ITT Night Vision goggles, wireless headsets from New Eagle, a radio system from E.F. Johnson, as well as fiber-optic scopes made by Quark International. They also use listening devices that work off a microwave dish to listen to conversations taking place among inmates causing the disturbance.

Upon entering the compound, the tactical team looks for injured inmates and any staff personnel not accounted for. They also take into custody any inmates that may have been involved in the incident and transport them to a holding area. At the same time, another part of the team is securing the perimeter of the facility.

After the uprising is quelled, the tactical team escorts a maintenance unit into the facility to assess damages to physical structures and security functions. Afterward, a part of the team is left onsite for any further response that may be needed. They are not released until the Commissioner of the Department of Corrections dictates that the incident is over. Prior to that, however, a debriefing of the team takes place to determine what did or did not work well during the re-securing stage. Next, the chief of tactical operations, Maj. Bruce Bussiere, prepares a report to the commissioner on what happened during the incident. The facility's warden also prepares a report on the incident.

The Tactical Operations Team is seen as the elite part of the department. It consists of maintenance workers, staff officers, counselors and even food services people. The team also has its own federally trained hostage negotiators.

In a recent incident at the Northern facility, a fire broke out within a cell and created a large amount of smoke. The availability of automatic smoke control systems, body alarms, and radios allowed personnel to respond quickly to the incident. There weren't any injuries or physical damage. What happened to the prisoner who started the incident? According to Myers, "The inmate who created the fire will be enjoying a very long stay with us."

"The state of Connecticut is extremely proud of its corps of correctional professionals, those men and women who so diligently protect public safety," says Gov. Rowland in a statement in the department's annual report.

The Grossmont Shopping Center in La Mesa, Calif., has developed policies for handling groups that refuse to follow the center's rules related to free speech activities on center property. A publication called "Special Procedures" guides security officers in dealing with such problems. The publication says:

- Should a petitioner refuse to comply with the center's petitioning policy, inform the management office, who will ask them to comply or leave the property.

- If the petitioner(s) refuse to leave the property, management will decide whether the police should be called. If you cannot reach the management, ignore the petitioners until the management can be reached. Do not act until your supervisor advises you.

- If you come upon individuals distributing fliers in the mall or on vehicle windshields, request these people to cease their activities and to collect the fliers.

- Be firm about the violators collecting the fliers. However, if they refuse, let them go because there is no use in antagonizing these individuals when we do not actually have the authority to make them collect these papers. Call one of the maintenance personnel and help them collect the fliers.

Restraint rules the day when dealing with groups or individuals that refuse to honor center policies.

In 1980, the United States Supreme Court defined the boundaries for a continuing debate in State Supreme Courts on the subject of non-commercial expressive activities carried out on private properties such as shopping centers.

In the case of Robins v. Pruneyard Shopping Center, the U.S. Supreme Court said that the first amendment right of free speech guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution does not guarantee individuals the right of access to private property for the purpose of keeping people informed through traditional free speech activities. The U.S. Constitution protects free speech on public property, but not on private property.

If that had been the end of it, mall owners and managers would have found themselves with the authority to prevent citizens from engaging in free speech activities on mall property.

But the High Court's decision also noted that individual state constitutions may express different views.

Since the Pruneyard decision, a number of State Supreme Courts have reviewed the issue and established policies defining how shopping centers in their states must deal with non-commercial expressive activity on center property.

Two states, California and New Jersey, have established rules that favor broad access to individuals and groups seeking to engage in free speech activities in shopping centers. "Courts in these two states have said that a mall is not like a house, a store, or even a strip center," says Suzanne Ilene Schiller, an attorney with Spector Gadon and Rosen in Philadelphia, who consults with shopping centers on this issue. "Instead, a regional shopping center is the functional equivalent of a city street, and the free speech rights that people enjoy in a downtown area to leaflet, for example, apply to shopping centers."

Four State Supreme Courts offer variations on this theme.

Massachusetts, Oregon and Washington have identified certain types of speech entitled to protection. "These states have said that speech related to registering voters and obtaining signatures to get a candidate or an issue on the ballot have protection," Schiller says. "On the other hand, although groups seeking to pass out flyers related to political issues such as gun control or abortion do have free speech rights, those rights do not rise to the level of overcoming the private property rights of a shopping center owner."

A fourth state, Colorado, has ruled more broadly in favor of free speech rights in connection with centers developed at least in part with public money from redevelopment authorities.

According to Schiller, the remaining states fall into two broad categories. Twenty states have examined the issue and decided that their constitutions do not protect public access rights on private property. The balance of the states have not reviewed the issue at the State Supreme Court level.

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