More Prisoners in Cheshire Could Mean More State Funding

With the state Department of Correction poised to close the Enfield Correctional Institution, the inmate population in Cheshire could increase by 350.

Town Manager Michael Milone said he was contacted this week about the inmate issue by Benjamin Barnes, head of the state Office of Policy and Management.

Milone told the Town Council the impact of additional inmates is offset by the reduction of 450 prisoners who were moved to other locations in the state when the Webster Correctional Institution closed in 2010.

"The net will be 100 less than one-and-a-half years ago," Milone said. He said the prison population stands at 2,109 inmates, down from 2,565 before Webster closed. If the inmates are moved to Cheshire, they would be housed in the "North Block" section of

Word of the possible inmate increase comes as the town is moving to upgrade the waste water treatment plant at a cost of about $30 million.

A 20-year-old agreement with the state Department of Correction that requires the agency to pay 20 percent of the cost to operate the treatment plant is expected to be updated, Milone said, to a requirement that state funding increase to 25 percent of costs.

"It's an unintended consequence that the state has a responsibility to meet. Now more than ever, (Cheshire) has pretty strong leverage," Milone said.

The announcement is tempered with the fact that the Enfield prison may not close if union concessions for state employees are reached with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's administration.

CT News Junkie reports that union leaders will meet Monday to “consider changing its bylaws for any future agreements that may be reached.“

Malloy sought to avoid union layoffs and closures of state facilities by reaching a tentative agreement with the coalition of 15 labor unions, according to CT News Junkie, but the unions rejected that agreement when four of the 15 unions voted against the package.

Malloy's spokeswoman Colleen Flanagan released a list of executive branch layoff notices which can be viewed in the attached pdf document.

The treatment plant upgrade will be the subject of a Budget Committee meeting of the Town Council on July 19 at 7 p.m. at