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

DOC Commissioner Rollin Cook resigns

  • Justice
  • by Kelan Lyons
  • June 12, 2020
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

ANDRIUS BANEVICIUS / CONNECTICUT DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION

DOC Commissioner Rollin Cook and Gov. Lamont speak with members of the T.R.U.E. Unit.

Department of Correction Commissioner Rollin Cook has resigned from his post effective July 1, citing family obligations in Utah.

Cook announced his resignation in a heartfelt internal memo Friday.

“Although I had planned and hoped for a longer tenure serving as Commissioner, I have submitted my resignation to Governor (Ned) Lamont,” Cook said. “Like all of you, my family is most important to me and this is really my opportunity to return to all of them.”

Cook’s father unexpectedly passed away this past December, he wrote in the memo, and his family has remained in Utah.

“My wife, kids and my mom were all there when everything shutdown,” he said. “I could not and would not leave my responsibilities here knowing our organization would be facing its most challenging event in decades, so we weathered the storm apart.”

Cook said he understood his challenging circumstances are “one story in the millions of stories faced by everyone through COVID-19, and I do not share it with you in an attempt for you to feel sorry or bad for me… My intent is to only let you know I leave because my family needs me and I need them.”

Cook arrived in Connecticut early in Lamont’s tenure with glowing references from Scott Semple, his predecessor, and the former governor’s criminal justice adviser, Michael P. Lawlor. Both had praised Cook as a reformer in his previous position as the top prison official in Utah.

“Commissioner Cook has been a reliable, steady hand at our Department of Correction since I came into office, and I am grateful for his service and leadership,” Lamont said. “He helped guide our prison system through a challenging and unprecedented time during this pandemic, and I can’t thank him enough for all of the work and thoughtfulness he has brought to the position.”

Cook leaves amid an international pandemic and days after the state reached an agreement with the ACLU of Connecticut over a lawsuit filed to protect incarcerated people from COVID-19. Under his tutelage, the department’s incarcerated population fell by 2,2o0 people due to a combination of a sharp decline in arrests and admissions to correctional facilities, and an increase in the number of discretionary releases that allowed people to get out of prison before the end of their sentence.

Lamont has appointed Angel Quiros, the DOC’s deputy commissioner of operations and rehabilitative services, to serve as acting commissioner while he conducts a national search to permanently fill the position.

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
CT lawmakers call for funding to stop ‘mass killing’ of Black and brown children
by Kelan Lyons

Lawmakers identified a $5 billion proposal by the Biden administration, and marijuana and sports-betting legalization efforts, as potential funding.

CT’s prison population shrunk during the pandemic. Will it last?
by Kelan Lyons and Kasturi Pananjady

The historic declines coincide with a demand for equity as racial disparities in the incarcerated populate have widened during COVID-19.

Keep youths out of the justice system, or hold them accountable? Judiciary committee advances bills that do both
by Kelan Lyons

Republicans were concerned about a provision in one bill that would erase certain juvenile records.

DCF commissioner says old juvenile detention center could humanely shelter migrant kids
by Mark Pazniokas and Kelan Lyons

Officials say a closed juvenile detention center's history should not rule out repurposing it as a shelter for migrant children.

Gov. Lamont’s cannabis bill passes out of Judiciary Committee, but not without changes
by Kelan Lyons

Revisions allow medical card-holders to grow their own plants and proposes that 55% of revenue go toward social-equity efforts.

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion College students in Connecticut should be vaccinated now
by Dayna Vadala

If the state of Connecticut wants its institutions of higher learning to return to normal in the fall, it’s going to have to get shots into the arms of the students.

Opinion Connecticut, be a International leader against hair discrimination among children
by Faith D. Crittenden, Jade A. Anderson, MD, and Whitney L. Stuard

On March 1, 2020, Connecticut became the eighth state to pass the Crown Act, a national legislative movement that recognizes natural hair and cultural headwear discrimination as a form of racial discrimination in the workplace. While we are  in strong support and advocate for this law, it is important to recognize the limitations of the Crown Act and how it can be improved upon in future policy.

Opinion Three lessons for schools across America from Secretary Cardona’s hometown
by Mark Benigni

Over the past decade, Meriden Public Schools -- where U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona served as assistant superintendent -- has become a unique laboratory for new ideas that push the boundaries of what is possible in public education. And many of those ideas have paid off.

Opinion A healthcare system too broken to fix
by Sosena Kedebe MD

On March 25, the White house announced that it was going to invest over $6 billion in health centers that are funded through the Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) in order to expand COVID-19 vaccinations and other health services provided to vulnerable populations. As a chief medical officer for a health center that is strained to reach some of the most disenfranchised patient population in Hartford, this was great news. Yet there was a part of me that took the news with a deep concern. Why you might ask?

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