Should those confined to prison for the rest of their lives be held on “special circumstances,” or is incarceration enough?
Michael P. Lawlor
Posted inJustice
Judge approves shorter sentence for convicted murderer turned prison mentor
The DOC could start screening Clyde Meikle in July for discharge to a halfway house.
Posted inJustice, Politics
CT hasn’t commuted a single prisoner’s sentence since before the pandemic. Advocates say it’s time to change.
The Board of Pardons and Parole has “unfettered discretion” to commute sentences. They haven’t exercised it during the pandemic.
Posted inJustice
Competency exams are being used in more criminal cases, even as criminal court dockets shrink
Courts’ use of competency exams increased while the criminal docket shrunk between 2015 and 2019.
Posted inJustice
Best of 2019: Casting a ballot from behind bars: No easy process
Former inmate Kennard Ray almost cried the first time he voted. It was a transformative experience he wants other former inmates to share.
Posted inJustice
Casting a ballot from behind bars: No easy process
Former inmate Kennard Ray almost cried the first time he voted. It was a transformative experience he wants other former inmates to share.
Posted inJustice
Federal ruling on conditions of confinement leaves state unsure of next step
State officials are not saying yet whether they intend to appeal a ruling that the state holds former death row inmates in cruel and unusual conditions.
Posted inJustice
Malloy leaves office as national leader on criminal justice reform
Under Gov. Dannel Malloy’s leadership, Connecticut has repealed the death penalty, closed prisons, decriminalized small amounts of marijuana, raised the age from 16 to 18 at which defendants are tried as adults for most crimes, streamlined the process for parole and pardons, and reduced penalties for non-violent drug crimes.
Posted inJustice
A first lady who wants Connecticut to ‘reimagine justice’
First Lady Cathy Malloy interrupted an impromptu interview Wednesday at the two-day conference she and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy are co-hosting, Reimagining Justice, to say goodbye to a friend, Tracie Bernardi. The two women hugged, and Bernardi said, “I love you.” They met years ago on Malloy’s visit to prison. Bernardi was doing time for murder.
Posted inJustice, Politics
CT homicides at 12-year low
Connecticut has had a dramatic drop in homicides since 2011, leading to the lowest number of homicides since 2001, according to data recorded by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Posted inHealth, Money
State prison population climbs even higher
The state’s prison population continued its yearlong upward climb this week. According to a new report filed Thursday by the Criminal Justice Policy & Planning Division, the average inmate population during the first week in July stood at 17,115, an increase of 108 prisoners – or a little less than 1 percent – above June’s level.