Unionized prison guards are warning of inmate riots and other problems inside the state's lockups if the government goes ahead with planned budget cuts.
Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has asked the Department of Correction to cut the equivalent of 1,019 positions and trim $62.9 million from its budget in the current fiscal year and $78 million in the next. His request comes after state employee unions failed to ratify a $1.6 billion labor savings deal needed to balance the two-year, $40.1 billion state budget.
The state plans to close the Bergin Correctional Institution in Mansfield in August and the Enfield Correctional Institution in Enfield by October.
In an interview, the presidents of three prison employee union locals, which represent about 5,000 prison workers, said the cuts will lead to overcrowding in the remaining prisons, dangerous inmate-to-staff ratios, and even too few maintenance workers to keep all the showers and toilets working.
"Unfortunately, I think, without a doubt, we will have a riot by the end of the year in these prisons," said Luke Leone, president of AFSCME Local 1565 of the Connecticut Correction Employees Union.
Department of Correction spokesman Brian Garnett called those comments "irresponsible and unprofessional speculation." He said the state can absorb the 1,300 inmates from Bergin and Enfield because the prison population has declined by about 2,300 inmates since 2008 to a 10-year low of about 17,600.
Malloy, who also noted that the prison population has been declining, said he heard the concerns of the prison employee unions.
"I understand that people say things," he said Tuesday. "They are first and foremost advocates of their people, and I understand that."
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