Stop Solitary CT aims to end the use of harmful isolation against children, women and men in jails, prisons and youth facilities across Connecticut. We are also working to significantly improve conditions incarcerated people face and replace them with spaces that center humanity and rehabilitation. We want facilities to be humane and safe for both correctional staff and incarcerated people. Our journey began in 2015 under an organization, Unlock the Box. Our journey to shut down Northern CI, a facility cited by the International community for its torture of incarcerated men ended in 2021 with its closing. Also in 2021, legislation proposed to limit solitary confinement (PROTECT ACT) was passed with bipartisan support yet Governor Lamont vetoed it. We didn’t give up. We reintroduced PROTECT Act the following session. It was signed into law in May 2022. Part of the legislation included establishing independent oversight over Department of Corrections. An enormous win for Stop Solitary Ct.

Robyn Porter

State Representative Robyn A. Porter a proud mother of two and grandmother of 3 was first elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives on April 28, 2014. Since winning the 94th Assembly District seat, Porter has championed legislation over the past six years that has provided fair wages and supportive workspaces for Connecticut’s labor force. She has also reformed the state’s criminal and juvenile justice systems, increased protections for domestic violence victims, advanced pay equity laws for women, and so much more. She has an associate degree from Gateway Community College and and bachelors degree in Criminal Justice from Charter Oak State College. She sits on the boards of Women Against Mass Incarceration (W.A.M.I.), Second Chance Reentry Initiative Program (SCRIP), is a member of Stop Solitary CT (SSCT) Steering Committee and is a member of the Hall of Change (HOC) Select Committee. She is a native New Yorker who has called New Haven her home since the summer of 2000 and proudly serves Hamden and New Haven fearlessly and unapologetically.

Barbara Fair, LCSW

Mother, grandmother and great grandmother who has worked tirelessly to bring public attention to the American unjust system. Her long history of social justice spans decades working with many social justice organizations across America including logistical support from Yale Undergraduate Prison Project and Yale Lowenstein Law Clinic. She speaks to the destabilizing impact of mass incarceration on Black and Brown communities. Her work in Connecticut includes demanding an end to state sanctioned violence, be it physical, emotional, psychological or sexual. To that end she helped push the passage of Ct’s Police Accountability bill as well as the PROTECT Act. No longer believing “reform” is an effective response to what’s wrong with Ct’s criminal justice and correctional system, Barbara is focused on dismantling systems of oppression rooted in racial injustice. For her, the real work begins with recognizing America’s ugly past and continuing history of government sanctioned abuse against marginalized people. People of African descent in Connecticut, a deeply segregated state, and across America have always bore the brunt of that harm. Recognizing, acknowledging and taking responsibility for that truth is where the work begins. Persistence in making change and accomplishing a total transformation of Ct’s criminal justice and prison system is where the work ends. In 2023 she received Southern Ct University gold medal and named “a woman of distinction” for decades of work to support the wellbeing of incarcerated people.

Shelton Tucker

Shelton Tucker is a lifelong New Haven resident and father of 5. He spent years as a youth mentor, including as a member of “Gang of dads” which served the community . He is a long time community activist having spent a great deal of his earlier life on the road with is mother, Barbara Fair, fighting against police brutality and abusive practices inside Ct jails, prisons and youth facilities. Shelton spent spent time in solitary confinement as a youth and can speak directly to the harmful effects of youth in isolation. Today he spends time teaching young people to master the martial arts, mentoring them and has plans to open his own spot where young people can feel safe and valued. Among his future plans is to hold sessions where youth who have experienced incarceration can process the experience and become whole again.

Colleen Lord

Colleen Lord is a Mom of 3 amazingly kind and creative adults as well as a woman with strong faith that brutality in judicial systems nationwide will finally be stopped. Also on the Board of the National Alliance on Mental Illness CT Shoreline, she has been involved with Stop Solitary CT since 2019. That was the devastating year of the homicide of her oldest son by actions of New Haven Correctional staff.  Experiencing this extreme violence against Robby, imprisoned for nonviolent breach of peace, and who never hurt anyone in his life, never a threat to anyone, made her see the lack of transparency and accountability in a state system set up to criminalize thousands only due to a mental illness condition or color of their skin.  Colleen feels honored to be serving on the SSCT Steering Committee, remaining hopeful that the State of CT will eliminate all human rights violations within all of its agencies and even lead the nation in wise, compassionate treatment of all. While greatly expanded community services will be critical to this effort, help is desperately needed for those currently experiencing incarceration now.