Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Vaccine Info
  • Money
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Vaccine Info
    Money
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism

Those with criminal records should help decide their fate, member says

  • Justice
  • by Kelan Lyons
  • October 8, 2019
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

mark pazniokas :: ctmirror.org

Rep. Robyn Porter.

An exasperated Tiheba Bain gave her colleagues on the Council on the Collateral Consequences of a Criminal Record a stern reminder Tuesday morning: “A lot of people think they know what formerly incarcerated people need, but you don’t know until you ask.”

Bain, the founder of Women Against Mass Incarceration, spent a decade in federal prison. That means she knows from firsthand experience the challenges people face when they return home after finishing a prison sentence.

She acknowledged Tuesday that Connecticut has made positive strides in its criminal justice reforms, but said  for that progress to continue, lawmakers and policy experts must listen to the voices of people who have been directly impacted by the state’s policies.

“You won’t know what works until you ask the person that’s been incarcerated. And that’s what’s missing from this whole component,” she said. “I should not be the only formerly incarcerated person at this table. I should not.”

Rep. Robyn Porter, D-New Haven and the council’s co-chair, agreed and said she is open to adding more council seats for people who have been incarcerated.

“The people closest to the problems are closest to the solutions,” she said. “That’s why people closest to the pain need to be closest to the power.”

Lawmakers approved the council’s creation last legislative session, watering down the original bill that would have prohibited discrimination in employment, housing, public education, insurance and government programs services based on a person’s criminal history.

This was the group’s second meeting. Similar concerns about representation were raised in the first meeting, in August, when Sen. Craig Miner, R-Litchfield said he was concerned no one from the business community was on the council or its employment subcommittee. That worry has since been addressed, as employment subcommittee chair Marc Pelka invited business and industry leaders to participate in their first subcommittee meeting last week.

“Criminal justice policy, and collateral consequences in particular, affect people across our state, and it’s a reflection of a desire across a diverse range of constituencies to contribute to the process,” Pelka said of the concerns raised over representation, and the interest in featuring a broad array of voices on the panels.

Pelka said further expanding his subcommittee could be difficult, given that they plan on meeting monthly before submitting recommendations to lawmakers in February.

“I think there are other means to bring those voices in,” he said, like focus groups, a planned survey of incarcerated people and public participation in subcommittee and council meetings.

While there are members of the three subcommittees — housing, employment and research — who have been directly affected by the criminal justice system, Porter said, “I think the more we have, the closer we’ll be to a real solution.”

Such firsthand knowledge is important for the council to fulfill its duty to give lawmakers recommendations to reduce or eliminate discrimination based on a person’s criminal record.

“But to have access to the table is just as important,” Porter said. “The folks that are at the table are a voice for you. You have access to us. If you have information, data, research, things you know that can impact the direction of where we’re going for this, then you most certainly should be contributing.”

The council plans to host forums with currently incarcerated people, as well as those who have since left prison. Such meetings will allow council members to hear and consider those concerns when deciding on a list of recommendations to provide to lawmakers next year.

The stakes are high.

Pelka handed out a worksheet at the council’s meeting that stated, of the 554 provisions of Connecticut law that impose such collateral consequences on those with criminal records, 69% are related to employment. Porter, a member of the Appropriations Committee, said the state loses a lot of revenue because of employment-related consequences of criminal convictions.

“We would not have any fiscal problems, in my personal opinion, if these people were released and gainfully employed,” Porter said. “Strong communities are derived from strong families, and until we make sure that every family in the state of Connecticut is viable and strong, financially and otherwise, we will all continue to suffer.”

Members of the research and logistics subcommittee will analyze micro- and macro-level data so the council can define the impact criminal records have on Connecticut residents.

“This type of conversation was not possible, and did not happen, 20 years ago,” said Andrew Clark, the director of Central Connecticut State University’s Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy and head of the research subcommittee. “We have to take a look at what we did, and how we got to 500 collateral consequences.”

Such policies were passed by lawmakers without an understanding of how they would affect state resources in the years to come, Clark said. The council grappling with that history could lead to a meaningful dialogue that will help state leaders better understand the roles deterrence, incapacitation and rehabilitation play in Connecticut’s criminal justice system.

“We’ve had a lot of conversations about second chances,” Clark said. “It’s always placed on the individual. We have never had the conversation as a society: When are we gonna look at ourselves and give ourselves a second chance, for the problems that we’ve created?”

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kelan Lyons is a Report For America Corps Member who covers the intersection of mental health and criminal justice for CT Mirror. Before joining CT Mirror, Kelan was a staff writer for City Weekly, an alt weekly in Salt Lake City, Utah, and a courts reporter for The Bryan-College Station Eagle, in Texas. He is originally from Philadelphia.

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
Equity issues dominate hearing on Lamont’s marijuana bill
by Kelan Lyons and Mark Pazniokas

The administration's testimony took up the hearing's first five hours. More than 130 people are signed up to speak.

Three weeks into COVID-19 vaccinations, DOC has vaccinated 10% of inmates, 40% of staff
by Kelan Lyons

Fewer than 850 incarcerated people had been vaccinated as of Feb. 22.

Judiciary Committee hears testimony on changes to last summer’s police accountably bill
by Kelan Lyons

One police chief said they need more time to train officers on new use-of-force rules.

Price tag for state police at Capitol non-protest: $125,000
by Dave Altimari

The National Guard also spent $122,000 in overtime to protect the Capitol and other buildings during that week.

Lamont to nominate diverse first class of trial judges
by Mark Pazniokas

Gov. Ned Lamont is naming Robert Clark as an appellate judge and eight women and seven men as trial judges.

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion Gas pipeline will threaten water quality, wildlife and wetlands
by Susan Eastwood

The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has granted tentative approval of the 401 water quality certification for the Pomfret to Killingly natural gas pipeline. I urge DEEP to deny the 401 certification, as the proposed pipeline would violate the Connecticut’s water quality standards, and the conditions in the draft certification fail to protect our streams, wetlands, and wildlife.

Opinion Connecticut and the other Connecticut. Which will endure?
by Ezra Kaprov

What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘Connecticut’? Possibly, you think of a 43-year-old Puerto Rican man who arrived here with his family following Hurricane Maria. He works full-time as a machinist at the Sikorsky plant, and he coaches a prizefighter on the side.

Opinion COVID-19 increases urgency for legislature to pass medical aid-in-dying law
by Dr. Gary Blick

The COVID-19 crisis has exposed the profound tragedy of loved ones dying alone, in a hospital or nursing home, without the care and comfort of loved ones surrounding them. This pandemic also demonstrates the fragility of life, the limits of modern medicine to relieve suffering, and has magnified the systemic racial disparities in our healthcare system, resulting in higher hospitalization and death rates for people in communities of color. We must eradicate these disparities, so everyone has equal access to the full range of end-of-life care options.

Opinion Three fallacies and the truth about vaccines
by Kerri M. Raissian, Ph.D. and Dr. Jody Terranova

Connecticut’s Public Health Committee recently heard public testimony regarding HB6423 and SB568 --  bills that would remove the religious exemption (the medical exemption would rightfully remain in place) from vaccination in order to attend school.  The religious exemption allows parents to effectively opt their children out of vaccines. In doing so, these families can still send their children to Connecticut’s schools, daycares, colleges, and camps.  This places other children at risk of contracting vaccine-preventable illnesses, and it is imperative the Connecticut legislature remove this exception.

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO