Reports Show More Prisoners Could be Moved to Cheshire

If a plan to close the Enfield Correctional Institution is carried out, several reports show about 350 of those prisoners would be moved to the Cheshire Correctional Institution.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's plan calls for the prison closure as part of the effort to eliminate the state's budget deficit, an administration official tells The Associated Press.

The Hartford Business Journal reports that the inmates would be spread among the other prisons in Connecticut, including Cheshire.

Department of Correction spokesman Brian Garnett acknowledged that closing the Enfield prison is being considered, according the Hartford Business Journal as the department looks to cut its budget. But he said no final decision has been made.

In January 2010, the minimum-security Webster Correctional Institution in Cheshire was closed and about 200 inmates were transferred to other prisons.

Cheshire Town Manager Michael Milone said recently that the prison population puts a strain on the town's waste water treatment plant.

Milone said a contract in 1990 was negotiated with the state to help pay for the cost of maintaining and operating the treatment plant.

"They're 20 percent of the flow, they should share the cost, otherwise taxpayers are subsidizing a state facility," Milone said.

His concern is the projected $30 million cost of a planned upgrade to the treatment plant. "The state should pay its share of the cost," Milone added.

The plant upgrade is expected to be the largest funding request when the town begins its capital budget plan this summer.