Northern Correctional Institution (NCI) was a high-security state prison in Somers, in the northern part of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

. Until its closure, the prison housed the state's male convicts serving long sentences for

violent crime A violent crime, violent felony, crime of violence or crime of a violent nature is a crime in which an offender or perpetrator uses or threatens to use harmful force upon a victim. This entails both crimes in which the violence, violent act is t ...

s; previously, it had also housed the

death row Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting Capital punishment, execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of ...

for inmates before the abolition of the death penalty in Connecticut. It was the designated restrictive housing facility for the

Connecticut Department of Correction The Connecticut Department of Correction (DOC) is the agency responsible for corrections in the U.S. state of Connecticut. The agency operates 18 correctional facilities. It has its headquarters in Wethersfield. History The correctional syste ...

, managing those inmates who had demonstrated a serious inability to adjust to confinement, particularly those that posed 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 Garner may refer to: Places United States * Garner, Arkansas * Garner, Iowa * Garner, Missouri * Garner, North Carolina Other uses * Garner (surname), a surname * Granary, a grain store * '' Tennessee v. Garner'', a United States Supreme Court ca ...

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 fell under federal mandates and require special education. The prison's inmate population reached a peak of 510 in January 2003. With the state's incarcerated population at a 32-year low, Northern was found by the state to be cost-ineffective and unnecessary, and was closed in June 2021. Remaining inmates were transferred to other prisons within the state.

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 Osborn Correctional Institution (OCI), formerly known as the Connecticut Correctional Institution – Somers, is a medium security state prison that includes a high security mental health unit for men of the Connecticut Department of Correction lo ...

. 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

Newtown, Connecticut Newtown is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It is part of the Greater Danbury metropolitan area as well as the New York metropolitan area. Newtown was founded in 1705, and later incorporated in 1711. As of the 2020 censu ...

. 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 had 258 inmates (178 accused, 80 sentenced). The prison was controlled by 310 personnel from the

under the supervision of Warden Anne Cournoyer and Deputy Warden William Mulligan. On June 11, 2021, the Northern C.I. was officially closed, with the remaining population transferred to other facilities over the previous several months.

Death row and "Old Sparky"

Connecticut legislated

lethal injection Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium solution) for the express purpose of causing rapid death. The main application for this procedure is capital puni ...

as its sole method of execution in 1995. The last person executed by lethal injection was

Michael Bruce Ross Michael Bruce Ross (July 26, 1961 – May 13, 2005) was an American serial killer. In 2005, he was executed by the state of Connecticut. Connecticut ended capital punishment in 2012, and the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled capital punishment unc ...

on May 13, 2005. The last person executed by electrocution was

Joseph "Mad Dog" Taborsky Joseph "Mad Dog" Taborsky (March 23, 1924 – May 17, 1960) was a serial killer who was sentenced to death after a string of robberies and murders in Connecticut during the 1950s. Six people were killed during these events, which became know ...

in May 1960. Connecticut's "Old Sparky" had not been tested since it was moved from Wethersfield to the Somers State Prison (now

) in Somers in 1962, and prison officials said the prison's electrical system could not handle it. The death penalty was abolished in Connecticut in 2012.

Notable prisoners

* Steven Joseph Hayes, perpetrator of the

Cheshire, Connecticut, home invasion murders On July 23, 2007, Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky home invasion, invaded the residence of the Petit family in Cheshire, Connecticut, Cheshire, Connecticut. Though initially planning only to rob the house, she and Komisarjevsky murdered Je ...

* Joshua Komisarjevsky, perpetrator of the

KOMISARJEVSKY,JOSHUA A
"

. Retrieved from Walker Reception Center on December 10, 2011. As both of these men were on death row and the death penalty has been abolished, they were considered regular inmates. Due to the severity of their crimes, it was deemed unsafe to house them in the Connecticut DOC. Both were moved to maximum security facilities in Pennsylvania.

References

External links

Northern Correctional Institution
(Connecticut Department of Correction) {{State prisons in Connecticut Prisons in Connecticut Somers, Connecticut Buildings and structures in Tolland County, Connecticut Capital punishment in Connecticut 1995 establishments in Connecticut