Connecticut had a prison ombudsman for 37 years. The PROTECT Act would have staffed the office. Then Lamont vetoed it.
Scott Semple
Posted inJustice
As federal lawsuit progresses, lawyers ask to sue in state court over negligence in prison death of 19-year old
A federal judge ruled that Karon Nealy Jr. “had an autoimmune disease that cost him his life.”
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Connecticut’s sole supermax prison is closing. What comes next for the men who used to be on death row?
Should those confined to prison for the rest of their lives be held on “special circumstances,” or is incarceration enough?
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After killing his cousin, Clyde Meikle found purpose in prison through service. Now he’s asking to go home.
Clyde Meikle is a “poster boy candidate” for release from prison. If he can’t get a sentence modification, who can?
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Citing ‘willful’ delays, federal judge orders state to release information on prison medical care
For the second time this year, a federal judge chided the state for its response to DOC document requests.
Posted inHealth
Advocates decry inquiry in prison birth case
The request for admissions, a standard filing in a federal court case, asks the 19-year-old who gave birth in her prison cell a series of combative and peculiar questions.
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Lamont picks prison reformer Rollin Cook to run DOC
With the pick Wednesday of Rollin Cook of Utah as Connecticut’s next correction commissioner, Gov.-elect Ned Lamont won what criminal-justice officials say was a national recruiting battle for an up-from-the-ranks prisons official with a reputation as a reformer and innovative leader.
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State is spending more, not less, on inmate health care
A reorganization in how the state provides medical care to thousands of inmates will not save the state money this year as promised. Instead, it will cost millions more.
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Commissioners Semple and Schriro to leave before Malloy
Scott Semple, who has turned Connecticut prisons into a nationally watched laboratory of reform, and Dora B. Schriro, the state’s top public safety official, have notified Gov. Dannel P. Malloy they will leave state service ahead of his last day in office on Jan. 9.
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In prison, ‘Reimagining Justice’ — and a governor’s legacy
CHESHIRE — In a century-old maximum security prison, a “60 Minutes” news crew recorded visitors mingling Wednesday among inmates and correction officers in a re-purposed cellblock, participants in a criminal-justice experiment that seems destined to become the praised legacy of an unpopular governor, Dannel P. Malloy.
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Dwindling oversight heightens concern over medical, mental health care for inmates
The recent birth of a baby in an inmate’s cell – as well as large budget cuts, a lack of outside oversight, and a history of complaints – have fueled concerns among some legislators and civil rights groups about the quality of medical and mental health care being provided to Connecticut’s inmates, most of whom eventually will be released.
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New-crime recidivism rates continue to show modest improvement
Inmates released in 2014 were arrested, convicted and sentenced for new crimes at lower rates than past groups, continuing a positive trend in those post-prison outcomes, but returns to prison are not declining at the same rate.
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Enfield prison to close as inmate population falls
Connecticut is closing the Enfield Correctional Institution, a prison that opened in 1962 as the Osborn Prison Farm and nearly doubled in size by 1987, the early years of a stunning sixfold increase in a state inmate population that peaked in 2008.
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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
‘To focus on young adults who are in prison is very cutting edge’
Our Q&A with Alexandra Frank of the Vera Institute of Justice about her organization’s partnership with the Connecticut Department of Corrections to reimagine prison. Her project is the new special unit at Cheshire Correctional to deal with the most disruptive demographic in prisons: young adults ages 18 to 25.