CHESHIRE, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut officials have closed the minimum-security Webster Correctional Institution in Cheshire and transferred its 220 inmates to other jails to help reduce the state's budget deficit.

Correction Department officials say the prison closed at midnight Thursday.

There were no layoffs, as correctional officers and other staff are transferring to other jobs in the prison system. The shutdown is expected to save the state $3.4 million a year, mostly from reduced energy costs.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell and state lawmakers are still trying to close an estimated $337 million budget deficit.

The prison guard's union opposed the closure, saying transferring the Webster inmates will put a strain on other prisons that are already crowded.