The governor’s office announced Wednesday that the state is closing a housing unit at the Manson Youth Institution in Cheshire due to a decline in the prison population.
The closure will save the state over $600,000 in annual costs.
The governor’s office cited a decline in crime rate and prison population in part due to juvenile justice reforms in recent years. Since 2009, the prison population of inmates between 18 and 21 has dropped 62 percent.
"In Connecticut, we’ve taken a reform-focused and data-driven approach that has brought our prison population to its lowest point in 23 years, while bringing our crime rate down to a remarkable 50-year low. In this same time span, we’ve reduced juvenile arrests by more than 5,000, allowing us to offer our young people classrooms instead of prison cells and opportunity instead of incarceration," Gov. Dannel Malloy said in a statement.
The Manson Youth Institution currently houses 490 inmates under the age of 22, including juveniles age 15 to 17 that were transferred to adult court. At its peak, the facility housed 700 inmates. There are currently 10 housing units that can each hold 72 inmates. The closure will reduce that number to nine.
The upcoming closure is one of several recent closures in the state prison system. The Enfield Corrections Institution is the next slated to close, which will save the state $6.5 million a year.
For more information, click here.
