Connecticut at the Crossroads: COVID-19, the State Budget Crisis and the Path Towards Decarceration, Public Safety and Community Investment
Our Recommendations:
By reinforcing its commitments to re-socialization and restorative justice, Connecticut can reduce its incarcerated population, decrease recidivism, spend resources more efficiently, and reaffirm its position as a leader in criminal justice reform during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. To achieve these goals, we urge Connecticut to adopt the following recommendations, each of which is undergirded by international standards and human rights norms.
We recommend the following:
That the state of Connecticut establish a renewed Justice Reinvestment Initiative. Following recent reinvestment models used elsewhere this reinvestment initiative would have two key features.[1] First, the initiative would aim to cut costs associated with mass incarcerations through, for example, closing prisons, reducing prison staff, and reducing the number of individuals moving through the costly trial system. Secondly, a proportion of that money would be reinvested in measures meant to reduce recidivism and increase social cohesion, such as targeted programs with prisons, community-based programs, juvenile justice measures, and victim services funds. A small portion of the savings would be redirected into the state’s general fund. This initiative would both decrease short-term costs through facility and personnel reductions while decreasing long-term costs associated with higher incarceration and recidivism rates. In Louisiana, the Justice Reinvestment Model redirects 70% of all savings back into restorative justice, reentry programs, juvenile justice, and victims’ services. An investment of this size would be transformational to the criminal justice landscape in Connecticut.
That the state of Connecticut invest further in reentry programs, restorative justice measures, and resocialization programs. As the state continues to turn away from the logic of mass incarceration, it will need new and vigorous programs to make communities whole. Interventions that center education, housing, employment, behavioral therapy, and treatment for substance abuse are far more likely to reduce crime and respect the key tenets of international human rights norms. Connecticut is well positioned to make these investments. The state may expand pre-existing programs — such as the TRUE program — or it may bring old programs to new cities — by, for example, expanding improved reentry services into New Haven. The state may also choose to invest in completely new initiatives. Restorative justice programs and well-funded halfway houses would provide new alternatives to incarceration in the state.
That the state of Connecticut work to ensure that prison conditions are more humane for those who remain incarcerated, adopting policies and practices consistent with international human rights standards. Around the world, prisons deprive people of liberty without depriving them further of health, education, or dignity. In the United States, those with substance abuse disorders frequently go without substitution treatment. Many are deprived of an accessible education. Others lose social ties as they must pay for phone calls, have reduced visitation rights, or lose access to personal belongings. The UN Special Rapporteur for Torture has recently stated that Connecticut’s use of solitary confinement and other restraint mechanisms “may well amount of psychological torture.”[2] Such conditions clearly violate the international standards and human rights norms explicated in this report. Connecticut should work to bring drug therapy, behavioral counseling, educational opportunities including vocational training, and increased socialization into its prisons. Moreover, the state should immediately halt the use of any measures that constitute physical or psychological torture, including but not limited to the use of solitary confinement. Finally, as long as COVID-19 remains a threat in the United States, the Connecticut Department of Corrections should take extraordinary steps to maintain the health of the incarcerated population for which it is responsible. The state should maintain social distancing and hygiene guidelines, regularly provide clean PPE to those incarcerated, and work to ensure all are vaccinated promptly, consistent with their higher risk.
That the state of Connecticut work to redirect people out of the prison pipeline. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the state has used supervised and early release programs to decrease its prison population, thereby proving the efficacy of existing alternatives to incarceration. Through analysis of newly available prosecutorial data, the state can better understand when criminal charges are brought, and when those charges result in imprisonment. As case studies in this report have demonstrated, imprisonment is not the natural, correct, or inevitable result of violations of criminal law. Restorative justice programs, community service, supervised release, individualized financial penalties, and other forms of social restitution are effective at reducing crime while keeping offenders out of the dangerous and expensive prison system.
Finally, that the state establish an independent community oversight board to facilitate its justice reinvestment initiatives while bridging the gap between the public (especially those directly affected by the criminal justice system) and policymakers. Communities most affected by criminal justice policies must have a significant say in determining exactly where justice reinvestments are ultimately made. Over the last six months, those directly affected by policing and the criminal justice system have worked to ensure that community voices are reflected in the policy that affect their lives. Many of the most significant reforms in Connecticut — from the 2004 original justice investment to the 2019 prosecutorial transparency bill — have originated and been developed in concert with community advocates. As Connecticut works to develop new, humane, and evidence-driven policy for the next decade, it must provide a seat at the table for a diverse coalition of stakeholders from around the state. As communities directly affected by state policies rightly insist, “nothing about us without us.”
Footnotes
[1] “Louisiana’s Justice Reinvestment Reforms 2019 Annual Performance Report” available at https://gov.louisiana.gov/assets/docs/CJR/2019-JRI-Performance-Annual-Report-Final.pdf (last accessed Dec 23 2020).
[2] “Connecticut prison warning: Prolonged solitary confinement may ‘amount to torture’, UN expert warns,” UN News, Feb 28 2020, accessible at https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/02/1058311 (last accessed Dec 30 2020). See also Kelan Lyons, “CT’s use of solitary confinement could amount to torture, UN says,” CT Mirror, Feb 28 2020, accessible at https://ctmirror.org/2020/02/28/cts-use-of-solitary-confinement-could-amount-to-torture-un-says/
