Section of Montville Correctional Institution Closed Due to Declining Crime Rate

HARTFORD, CT – Governor Dannel P. Malloy announced Wednesday that the Connecticut Department of Correction (DOC) has closed the Radgowski Annex Building at the Corrigan-Radgowski Correctional Center in Montville.

The move comes as a result of the continuing decline in the state’s crime rate and the resulting drop in the prison population, according to a release. The closure of the building, which is capable of holding up to 254 inmates, will save the state approximately $3 million in annual operating costs.

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“As crime in Connecticut has dropped to its lowest level in two generations and the prison population has subsequently declined to its lowest level in 23 years, we’ve been able to create efficiencies by closing outdated prisons and portions of facilities, and reallocating these resources toward efforts that will further enhance public safety initiatives and keep our neighborhoods even safer,” Malloy said in a release. “Across the nation, elected leaders from both sides of the aisle are recognizing that these kinds of reforms are working, and Connecticut is leading these efforts. Violent, high-risk inmates are serving more of their original sentences than ever before. We are making real progress and in the process, improving lives and bettering our communities.”

The Radgowski Annex opened in 1957 when it was then known as the Montville Correctional Center. It closed in 1991 for a brief period and then re-opened in 1997 as part of the Radgowski Correctional Institution, which later merged with the Corrigan Correctional Institution in 2001 and was renamed as the Corrigan-Radgowski Correctional Center under a consolidation plan.

The facility confined both pretrial and sentenced offenders, and serves Superior Courts in Danielson, New London, Norwich and Windham.

“The closing of infrastructure is a good indication that fewer people are returning to prison,” DOC Commissioner Scott Semple said in a release. “The reduction in the offender population not only speaks to successful criminal justice reforms, but also represents the dedicated work of the men and women of the Department of Correction.”

According to the FBI, reported crime in Connecticut is now at its lowest level since 1967. Statewide arrests, jail admissions and recidivism are at historic lows as well. For example, the total number of prisoners returned to prison within one year of release for those released in 2014 was 900 lower than for those released in 2011.

Today, the state’s total inmate population is approximately 14,560. The all-time high population peaked in 2008 at 19,894 inmates.

The DOC has recently implemented a number of measures to improve offender reentry, including the creation of a streamlined and centralized release unit.

Over the past two years, the department has opened five reintegration centers, including three at Cybulski Correctional Institution that focuses on DUI offenders, those who are military veterans, and the general population; one at York Correctional Institution focused on female offenders; and one at the Cheshire Correctional Institution that is focused on the youth population between the ages of 18 to 25.

Statistics on Declining Crime Rate in Connecticut

Recent statistics show that arrests and DOC admissions continues to dramatically decline over the last few years.

These include:

• Between 2009 and 2017, the number of arrests that occurred during the first quarter of the year – an early indication of the crime rate – has dropped by 32 percent.
• Between 2009 and 2017, the number of accused admissions to the DOC dropped by 25 percent during the first quarter of the year.
• Between 2009 and 2017, the number of newly sentenced admissions to the DOC during the first quarter of the year dropped by 44 percent.
• New arrests during the first quarter of 2017 are down by 6 percent when compared to the same period in 2016.
  • In 2009, there were 28,484 arrests during the first quarter of the year
  • In 2016, there were 20,780 arrests during the first quarter of the year
  • In 2017, there were 19,451 arrests during the first quarter of the year

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