By Luther Turmelle, North Bureau Chief

The president of the union representing corrections officers at the Webster Correctional Institution in Cheshire used the closing of the prison to accuse state officials of misleading the public about jail overcrowding.

Dwayne Bickford, president of Local 387 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said Department of Correction officials are lying about the real numbers of inmates in the state’s prisons.

That’s important, Bickford said, because moving more than 200 inmates from Webster to other prisons is only adding to the overcrowding problem.

“The agency continues to house inmates in unconventional housing units,” he said, referring to common areas and spaces normally used for recreation. “This trend will not allow for proper administration of behavioral and other problems, adding to our concerns about safety and security.”

Larry Dorman, a spokesman for the union, said, “We’re just hoping it doesn’t take a tragedy for people to see the problem with this.”

The comments came just hours after the last inmate was moved from Webster, which is being closed to save the state $3.4 million annually.

The last shift of corrections officers was scheduled to end at 11 p.m. Thursday.

The Correction Department quietly began moving prisoners from Webster, a minimum-security prison, early last month, even though no formal announcement had been made about the closing.

A few more than 200 inmates were moved to another minimum-security prison or higher-security facilities.

Correction Department spokesman Brian Garnett disputed the union’s claims regarding overcrowding and any impact inmates moved from Webster might have on it. Continued...

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“We have, at this point, no or extremely minimal overcrowding in the agency,” Garnett said. “Any overcrowding that does occur is temporary and occurs on nights in which police bring a large number of offenders into the system. Our facilities are safe and secure and any movement that was done involving inmates from Webster was done without causing any issues in our remaining facilities.”

Garnett said the statewide inmate population is 18,200, down from the high of 19,894 in February 2008.

Only two of the four housing units in Webster were in use at the time the decision was made to close it, Garnett said. Each housing unit held about 110 people, he said.

The 120 corrections officers, counselors and other employees at Webster are being transferred to other prisons.

Frank Batista, a corrections officer for more than 19 years, is one of the lucky ones.

While some union members are being sent to work at more far-flung facilities, Batista is transferring to the Cheshire Correctional Institution, a long-term, high-security prison next to Webster.

Batista said employees at Webster first suspected that the prison might be slated for closing early in 2009. But then the Department of Correction began investing in improvements, leading employees to believe that closing it was unlikely.

“They were doing things like putting in brand new cable television connections for the inmates, so we figure maybe we were OK,” Batista said.

Webster is being mothballed so that it can be used again in the event inmate populations rise, Garnett said.

Luther Turmelle can be reached at lturmelle@nhregister.com or 203-789-5706.

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