Danbury Federal Prison Almost Ready to Bring Back Women

The Connecticut prison that Netflix hit Orange Is The New Black is based upon gets ready for women inmates to return.

Letters from prison are not an uncommon thing at all. As far back as when I did college radio at WXCI at Western Connecticut State University, prisoners at the Federal Corrections Institution, would write to me. Sadly, the infamous Piper Kerman was not someone who ever dropped me a line. To have corresponded with the woman who famously served time at the FCI, and then penned the book, Orange Is The New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison, would have been beyond interesting. New stories and letters from prison may be on the horizon.

According to an article from newstimes.com, a new federal prison for female inmates should be completed by October. The FCI in Danbury has a varied history dating back to its opening in 1940. Housing men and women over the years, it became a women's facility in the 1990's, but, as things go with our prison system, overcrowding of federal facilities for low-security male inmates caused Danbury to be converted back to a men's facility in 2013.

It turns out that the FCI in Danbury was the only federal prison for women in the Northeast, and closing it down has stirred up numerous complaints from lawmakers. So much so, that according to the NewsTimes, the federal Bureau of Prisons decided to build a new facility for women on the current site. The construction has dragged on, causing more of an uproar. Even Senator Chris Murphy voiced his displeasure when he told the NewsTimes:

The construction schedule continues to slip further and further behind, and the explanations don’t seem to add up. Each delay makes it harder on the innocent children and family members who are traveling a long way to visit their mom or daughter. There are a lot of people counting on this facility.

It appears as if the end of this drama at the FCI in Danbury is coming to a close. That said, season four of the Netflix drama just ended in June, with season five expected for June 2017.

Listen to Pam Brooks weekdays from 10-3PM on 95.1 FM, online at i95rock.com/listen-live/ or by downloading the radioPup app for your mobile device.