Danbury’s federal prison fire was 40 years ago this week

The front-page story in The Danbury News-Times July 7, 1977 described the fire that killed five inmates at the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury. The front-page story in The Danbury News-Times July 7, 1977 described the fire that killed five inmates at the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury. Photo: File Photo / The News-Times Photo: File Photo / The News-Times Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Danbury’s federal prison fire was 40 years ago this week 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

DANBURY - July 7, 1977 — 7/7/77 — would be remembered for something other than being the day of 7s.

At 1:15 a.m. that day, a fire started in a washroom just a few yards from tightly locked Dormitory G at the Federal Correctional Institute on Route 37. Eighty 80 inmates in the medium-security prison were asleep when the billowing smoke and toxic flames started to engulf the second floor.

The fire spread quickly through the dormitory, killing five prisoners. The Chief Medical Examiner’s office concluded that that they died of smoke inhalation.

Another 86 prisoners, staff and firefighters were injured - some with second- and third-degree burns. Danbury Hospital resembled an armed compound as 30 state and Danbury police officers, along with prison guards, federal marshals and hospital security guards, stood watch while the prisoners were being treated.

Danbury Police Sgt. Robert Lovell, the first police officer on the scene, told The News-Times that fire personnel were delayed four or five minutes because they had to use a wire cutters to get through a gate to the prison, where more than 839 prisoners were being held.

Lovell added that Danbury firefighters had to hook up from hydrants outside the prison, which was built in 1940. The fire was not fully contained until 6 a.m.

The New York Times reported that the inmates were trapped for 15 minutes after a key jammed and then broke as a prison guard tried to open an emergency door to the dormitory. Inmates inside hammered it with their fists.

Fred Tomaino, the Danbury fire marshal, told The News-Times that the blaze apparently was deliberately set.

The story received considerable attention for days from most the television networks, area radio stations and most of the state’s daily newspapers. Most were on the scene late that morning when Norman Carlson, the director of the Bureau of Federal Prisons, along with Acting Warden Anthony Young, held a brief news conference outside the main entrance.

Some inmates yelled out of windows to the reporters assembled outside the prison.

Walter Tyson of Providence, R.I., a prisoner returning from brief treatment at Danbury Hospital, said that the guards didn’t unlock the door promptly and that “five guys died for nothing.” Hours later, inmates conducted a sit-in demonstration and presented prison officials with a list of grievances.

In addition to investigations by the FBI, Federal Bureau of Prisons and state police, a federal Board of Inquiry was appointed to review the prison’s response to the fatal blaze.

The federal General Accounting Office (GAO) interviewed 57 inmates, 16 prison staff members and others at the request of U.S. Sens. Abraham Ribicoff and Lowell Weicker of Connecticut.

The report indicated that the materials near the dormitory were in accordance with fire safety codes. The GAO also reported that fire safety training had been improved at the FCI following the tragedy.

Despite the 12-foot fence that ran around the site’s 150 acres, the prison was called a “country club” since it had tennis and handball courts and a baseball field.

Over the years, the roster of inmates had included Watergate burglars G. Gordon Liddy and Howard Hunt and brothers Daniel and Phillip Berrigan, the noted anti-Vietnam War protestors.

The facility moved to an exclusive female inmate population in 1993 and then transitioned to a low -security all male prison in early 2014. An adjacent $25 million camp for female prisoners opened last December.

The prison now has a combined population of 1,200, with 220 in the women’s camp.