East Lyme — The commissioner of the state Department of Correction announced this afternoon that the agency will close the J.B. Gates Correctional Institution in Niantic effective June 1.

Commissioner Leo C. Arnone said the men's prison's closing will save Connecticut taxpayers approximately $12.3 million a year. The agency said the prison's closing will not result in any layoffs of the approximately 270 people who work there.

The agency will work with the staff to relocate them to nearby facilities.

Gates, which opened in 1981, is a Level 2, minimum security, pre-release facility with about 700 prisoners. The prisoners will be sent to other facilities across the state, the agency said in a press release.

The Department of Corrections already closed the Webster Correctional Institution in Cheshire in January 2010. That closing saved the state $3.4-million a year, according to the agency.

There are 18 correctional facilities statewide, including Gates and Webster.

The state's prison population is at a 10-year low of approximately 17,650, according to the agency. The population reached an all-time high of 19,894 on Feb. 1, 2008.