Northern Correctional Institution

Connecticut officially closed Northern Correctional Institution Friday, three weeks ahead of the planned July 1 closure. The maximum-security prison in Somers was closed as part of a restructuring plan as the state’s prison population declined over the past 15 months. Northern Correctional Institution opened in 1995. Its prison population has not exceeded 100 since July 2020. At its peak population…

The Connecticut Department of Correction plans to close Northern Correctional Institution, a maximum-security prison in Somers, by July 1. Gov. Ned Lamont released a statement, saying closing the facility will save the state approximately $12.6 million per year in operating costs and that the decision is “largely attributed to the significant drop in the state’s incarcerated population,” which decreased by…

Since coronavirus entered the U.S., nearly 16,000 have fallen ill of COVID-19 and 134 have died. That number does not include people incarcerated in state prisons across the U.S. The Marshall Project’s criminal justice reporter Keri Blakinger explains why the general public should care about protecting people in prisons.