Opinion: It might soon be time to close another prison

“Given all of this data, it’s safe to assume that our prison population will continue to decline as crime drops. The central indicator underlying this prediction is the extraordinary drop in young adults, persons under 25 years of age, being arrested. For example, the number of 18-year-olds arrested last year was down 63 percent compared to 2009. As you might expect, the number of young adults in prison in our state has declined by about the same amount. Arrests and incarceration of older offenders had declined, but only slightly. Since the farm system for our prison system consists of younger men, I am confident that our Department of Correction will continue to shrink for the foreseeable future.“

CT Mirror

May 14, 2019