April 13th: Covid-19 Decarceration Response Plan

To date, Governor Ned Lamont has failed to release a thoughtful plan to protect people in prison. This policy paper outlines the current crisis in Connecticut correctional facilities, documents the State’s inadequate response, and articulates a set of urgent demands that would remedy the crisis at hand.

March 31st Statement: Response to CDOC Decision to Isolate Upon Intake

On March 26th, Commissioner Rollin Cook established a policy that would, as a response to Covid-19, isolate incarcerated people upon admission to select Department of Correction (DOC) facilities. The decision to use of presumptive isolation upon intake is an indication of the gravity of a potential Covid-19 outbreak, but, as it currently stands, this policy is an insufficient safeguard against Covid-19 and has a potentially devastating human impact. The State of Connecticut, acting through the DOC, the Judicial Branch, and the Division of Criminal Justice, must commit to releasing people from prison, diverting people from the prison system, avoiding across the board quarantines, ensuring that isolated people are provided with meaningful resources, and implementing measures that would ensure effective public and medical oversight. [Read the full statement linked here]

April 7th Statement: Response to Lamont’s Comments on In-Car Protest

At your COVID Update press conference today, you dismissively responded to our protests by saying, "Call me." Yet without a direct number to you, which you know citizens do not have, Connecticut residents are diverted to a general 211 line. Put another way-- there is no obvious way for directly impacted constituents to just "call you." This is no time for flippant comments. Given the severity of the novel coronavirus, we demand a meeting with you; we want to know what your plan is to safely protect incarcerated people in Connecticut from COVID-19 and we want a clear explanation as to why you are not following the precedent set by neighboring states and releasing people as a response to COVID-19.

March 26th Statement: Lamont & CDOC Failure to Protect Incarcerated People

The failure to expedite releases and instead to rely on widespread, in-prison segregation reflects a callous disregard for the lives of incarcerated people. Current CDOC and Gubernatorial policy is too little too late, ignores preemptive release as a viable alternative to planned segregation, does not think creatively about reentry support, and lacks transparency regarding CDOC healthcare capacity. There are a number of mechanisms that should be considered to safely and effectively expedite releases from prison, and ensure that people in prison have access to appropriate medical care. [Read the full statement linked here. Watch our video response here.]

June 16th: Rally at the Capitol to Demand that Legislation Address Police and Correctional Officers in Special Session

A coalition of legislators, community leaders, and civil rights organizations gathered outside the Capitol Building on Wednesday afternoon to demand substantive change during a special session. Stop Solitary CT called on the Governor and legislative leaders to pass a bill that redirects police and correctional funding to black and brown communities, closes Northern C.I., abolishes solitary confinement, and fully funds independent oversight of police departments and correctional facilities.

June 5th: Die in & Speak Out at the Capitol

Black and brown people face state sanctioned brutality from police and correctional officers. Families with incarcerated loved ones have asked the Governor for months now to protect incarcerated people from Covid-19 and have been asking for oversight of the Department of Correction for years. We will be rallying to demand that Governor Lamont com- mits to releases, dramatic reforms, and oversight. The action will center the experiences of people who have experienced police brutality, incarceration, or have loved ones currently incarcerated.

May 28th: Confronting the Governor on the New Haven Green

Stop Solitary CT organizer Barbara Fair confronted Governor Ned Lamont on the New Haven Green, asking him to explain why he has almost entirely ignored incarcerated people. She stated “Now, what I’d like to know is why are those lives disposable, that you don’t even have a plan to release?” Instead of engaging her question, the Governor was largely silent and the State Department of Correction responded by citing inaccurate statistics regarding discretionary releases in a statement later that same day.