Enfield — One word comes to Ernest Burgeson's mind when he thinks about why, despite having been convicted of a DUI in 2010, he got behind the wheel while drunk last October: complacency. 

"You think you've got it. You start slacking off with the meetings. You think, 'OK, I'm doing all right here,'" the 50-year-old West Hartford resident said. "Before you know it, there's some kind of experience that derails you. But you've been neglecting the (coping) tools a little bit, and, next thing you know, you make a bad decision."

Burgeson is just one of many inmates at the Willard-Cybulski Correctional Institution in Enfield who are part of the institution's new 118-bed DUI reintegration unit.

As members of the unit, which Gov. Dannel P. Malloy officially dedicated Friday morning, inmates participate in programs with specially developed curricula intended to help them learn everything from what drinking does to one's body to how to recognize when a relapse may be impending and what to do about it.

"The idea of having someone sit in our prisons and not benefit from that experience — and that's a weird way to look at being in prison — but to not give them the tool set necessary to combat their weaknesses, their disabilities, their problems, doesn't make a lot of sense," Malloy said. "It simply means at some point we're going to invite them to spend more time with us."

The program has four tracks — with one being the least intensive and four the most — into which offenders are placed based on their needs.

In track two, which state Department of Correction Commissioner Scott Semple said currently is the most populated, inmates spend their time in prison going through a 14-session DUI curriculum and then are released to undergo supervised "home confinement."

Semple said about 70 offenders were participating in home confinement as of March.

With successful completion of their programming, those in track three can earn the home confinement privilege. Those in track four — who are in need of intensive treatment and/or are "unsuitable" for home confinement — aren't eligible.

"Our goal is to make a difference and return our offenders back to their communities for a second chance at life without drinking and driving," said Cybulski Warden John Tarascio.

According to Semple, statistics show just how important it is to address DUI offenders individually.

The average person convicted of drunk driving, he said, had driven drunk at least 80 times prior to being caught. Of all those arrested or convicted of driving under the influence, about one-third are repeat offenders.

Every day, Semple noted, about 27 people die as a result of intoxicated driving.

"As with other reintegration units, one of the many benefits of having offenders with similar needs housed together is that the unit becomes like a therapeutic community — one in which mutual support helps promote positive personal change," he said.

Burgeson, who expects to be moved from the institution to home confinement sometime this month, said he's "grateful" for the chance to be in the unit and take advantage of the programs it offers.

Burgeson said he's confident he won't reoffend.

"I wrote myself up a bit of a work plan," he said, explaining that he intends to renew his involvement with programs at his church in West Hartford and with the Hartford-based Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery.

This time, he said, he won't grow complacent.

The new DUI unit is the third specialized unit in Cybulski. The institution also contains the Cybulski Community Reintegration Center for men, which opened in April 2015, and the Veterans Unit for military veterans, which opened in November 2015.

On Feb. 1, the state began operating the Keys to Success Reintegration Unit at York Correctional Institution, the state's only women's facility, to focus on the needs of female offenders as they prepare to re-enter society.

Additionally, Semple said "plans are in the works" to create another such unit tailored for offenders who have mental health needs.

The units all are part of Malloy's Second Chance Society initiative.

l.boyle@theday.com