Council Authorizes Jaskiewicz to Sign Agreement on Sex-Offender Facility

When the Montville Town Council voted 5-1 Monday to authorize Mayor Joe Jaskiewicz to sign an agreement with the state, it signaled the beginning of the end of the town’s fight against the sex-offender treatment facility planned for the grounds of the Corrigan-Radgowski Correctional Facility.

The battle against the facility has been going for at least two years. It’s been fought by citizens, by elected town officers, by the mayor and by the state legislators who serve Montville.

Now, it is drawing to a close.

Urged by attorney Mike Carey, who is representing the town in this matter, council members would not give particulars about the agreement, which does not become a public document until it is signed by all parties.

At the end of March, town council members, the mayor and state legislators met with the state Department of Correction Commissioner Leo Arone, and Gov. Dannell Malloy’s chief of staff, Timothy Bannon, to discuss the memorandum of understanding.

In that meeting, Arone said:

• Sex offenders would not have any contact with the community unless there was an immediate medical need.
• When sex offenders were outside the facility in the community, they would be escorted at all times.
• No sex offenders would be placed in Montville when they were discharged, unless they were from Montville to begin with.
• There will be a fence around the facility.
• There will be alarms on all the doors.
• There will also be motion detectors in areas that are not in use.
• Everything will be monitored by cameras.
• The perimeter patrol will be armed.

Last year, the town sued the state in an effort to stop the experimental facility from being built. The case was dismissed, but the town council voted to appeal that decision. So far, the town has spent more than $85,000 in the effort.

Jaskiewicz said that he expects the MOU to be finalized next week – “unless budget constraints could open people’s eyes,” he said.

“Why are we spending that kind of money on this project,” when Connecticut’s economy is as weak as it currently is, he asked.

Council Vice Chairman Ellen Hillman voted against the motion to allow Jaskiewicz to sign the agreement. (Council member Gary Murphy has abstained from voting on the issue, as he works for the Department of Correction).

“I can’t sell out the taxpayers of this town,” Hillman said Monday. “I believe an MOU is the same as an agreement to allow (the sex-offender facility).

“And I won’t allow it.”

While she said she appreciated all the work that has been put into the memorandum of understanding, “Morally,” she said, “it’s wrong. It’s wrong on so many levels.”

Asked what she could do to keep the facility from being built in Montville, Hillman said “You can’t fight City Hall.”

To read more about the case against the state, click . To read the case, as filed in court, click the pdf in the photo box.

To read more about the memorandum of understanding the state has promised Montville, click .