Cloe Poisson :: CT Mirror.org
A sign was taped to a car window calling for the freeing of prisoners at York Correctional Institution in Niantic, Monday, April 13, 2020, during a car protest by community organizers and prison advocates in a park next the womenÕs prison. They were calling for the release of prisoners who are at risk on infection from the Covid-19 virus.
In April, former Commissioner of Department of Correction (DOC) Rollin Cook issued a department-wide memorandum requiring staff “to wear protective face-masks while on duty whenever social distancing is not possible.”
Chandra Bozelko
Corrections officers in Connecticut aren’t obeying this instruction. They’re not wearing masks, at least not properly and definitely not consistently. That’s what’s caused the precipitous rise in the number of infections and deaths of incarcerated people. As of February 5, 3,816 inmates had tested positive and 19 of them have died from COVID-19 complications; six passed awa
Lamont Announces Plans To Close Northern Correctional Institution Written by Office of the Governor.
Governor Ned Lamont has announced that the Connecticut Department of Correction plans to close Northern Correctional Institution by July 1, 2021.
The decision to close the facility is largely attributed to the significant drop in the state’s incarcerated population, which decreased by approximately 3,300 over the last ten months. Currently, there are 65 people housed at Northern. The facility’s population has not been above 100 since July 10, 2020. At its peak, its population was 510 in 2003.
Closing the facility will save the state approximately $12.6 million in annual operating costs.
“New prison admissions in Connecticut have declined significantly over the last decade, and the incarcerated population is currently at a 32-year low. This is even as violent, high-risk inmates are serving more of their original sentences than ever before,”
Advocates push to end solitary confinement at CT prisons
Lisa Backus
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A woman gestures through the sunroof of a passing car during a protest outside the Bridgeport Correctional Center, in Bridgeport, Conn. April 15, 2020.Ned Gerard / Hearst Connecticut Media
For Colleen Lord’s son, a struggle with correction officers put the accused parole violator in solitary confinement, where, she tearfully recalled, he died in March 2019.
Joining lawmakers and advocates Monday, Lord shared her son’s story as she and two other mothers, whose sons were put in similar confinement, showed their support for legislation hoping to end the controversial practice of isolating inmates.