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Friends, Family, Supporters of Stop Solitary CT and families of Incarcerated People: Bring your kids (nieces, nephews, and neighbor’s children) for a special holiday surprise!
J’Allen Jones died in Garner CI after being beaten and suffocated. His family is fighting to make the video public but the Attorney General’s office argues it will “Anger The Public.”
Join Us at 95 Washington Street in Hartford at 2pm as we stand for justice and transparency.
The public hearing for the PROTECT Act will be held over Zoom on March 25th at 10am. Learn how you can submit testimony for the public hearing here.
Register to testify here: zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_iBrl0vtNRpCXkhW92KQ-Jg.
Join Stop Solitary CT on MLK Day to learn why we still urgently need the PROTECT Act and how you can help it become law in 2022. The webinar will feature a conversation between legislators, advocates, and formerly incarcerated individuals about the 2022 PROTECT Act campaign. Among the speakers are Representative Robyn Porter of New Haven and Melvin Medina, National Campaign Strategist for the American Civil Liberties Union. Individuals recently released from prison will also share firsthand knowledge of conditions in Connecticut prisons over recent weeks and months. Join via Zoom: https://yale.zoom.us/j/94357833079.
Join Stop Solitary CT and allies on July 14 at the Connecticut State Capitol to demand that legislators override Governor Lamont’s veto of the PROTECT Act (S.B. 1059). After the bipartisan passage of this comprehensive legislation to restrict solitary, end abusive shackling practices, and implement oversight of the Department of Correction, Governor Lamont issued a surprise veto. His veto disrespects the humanity of incarcerated people and defies the democratic will of the people and their representatives. His actions are unacceptable and legislators must seek an override. Read Stop Solitary CT’s statement on Governor Lamont’s veto and corresponding Executive Order.
In Connecticut policies that protect the lives of Black and Brown people tend to take decades to pass. Families, friends, allies demand better. We demand that the legislature PASS the PROTECT Act, SB 1059.
This event will begin at 12:00 pm as part of an all day rally at the Connecticut State Capitol on Wednesday, June 2nd, 2021.
The schedule will be as follows:
10:00 am — Arrive at the Capitol
12:00 pm — Press Conference and Rally
1:00 pm — Food Break
2:00 pm — Individual Advocacy
This event comes at a crucial moment for our campaign during the final days of the session — the legislature must vote on Senate Bill 1059, which will protect the lives of people who live and work in prison. To ensure everyone can join the event, we’ll be providing transportation vouchers for people who can bring three people to the event. We’ll also be providing free food and refreshments!
Please bring sunblock, chairs, and some water as we plan to camp out for the day!
Stop Solitary CT will host a press conference on National Freedom Day to introduce our model legislation, the PROTECT Act, alongside legislative champions. Join us as we discuss our campaign to end solitary confinement, shut down Northern C.I., and ensure correctional transparency. We will also be announcing the release of our petition to end the use of solitary confinement!
We’ll be joined by Judiciary Committee co-chair Senator Gary Winfield, Judiciary Co-chair Representative Steve Stafstrom, and many other fantastic legislators.
This panel at Quinnipiac Law School will feature a conversation about solitary confinement in Connecticut, led by survivor and activist Leighton Johnson of Stop Solitary CT.
Senator Gary Winfield joins Stop Solitary CT for a press conference inviting legislators and constituents alike to experience our replica isolation cell and expressing support for legislation to end solitary confinement.
This 5000 pound replica solitary cell will be at the Connecticut State Capitol from February 24-March 4. The cell provides legislators and other Connecticut residents with the opportunity to experience the horror, isolation, and dehumanization that is solitary confinement. Visit the cell during business hours at the Capitol and ask your legislators to do the same. If you are interested in volunteering with Stop Solitary CT to staff the replica cell, email rahishabivens@yahoo.com.
Stop Solitary CT is continuing our once a month event series on the 23rd of every month to honor those who are in solitary 23 hours out of the day.
With this month’s candlelight vigil, we seek to bring awareness to the fact that in many prisons across Connecticut, people in general population are in their cells at least 21 hours out of the day. One of the goals of the PROTECT Act is to increase time out of cell for all people incarcerated.
Join us at Highland Ave outside Cheshire Correctional Institution to protest the inhumane conditions, unite in solidarity, and host this candlelight vigil to end torture in our prisons. If you are interested in volunteering to support us with this vigil or plan to attend, please email rahishabivens@yahoo.com.
Join us at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford to educate state legislators about the urgent need to abolish solitary confinement through the PROTECT Act.
Who: Stop Solitary CT + Legislative Partners
What: Press Conference
When: January 23rd, 2020 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm (EST)
Where: East Side of CT State Capitol,
210 Capitol Ave, Hartford, CT
Why: A coalition CT legislators, former corrections officials, medical professionals, lawyers, and survivors of solitary confinement will announce plans to introduce legislation that will improve public safety by addressing the inhumane impact of solitary confinement. Join us to learn more about the movement to end the use of solitary confinement and how to become more involved with the movement as we enter the 2020 legislative session. All are welcome!
In celebration of Human Rights Day, StopSolitaryCT is officially announcing the launch of our 2020 legislative campaign. In conjunction with our community partners and the Lowenstein Clinic at Yale Law School, we have drafted expansive legislation designed to abolish solitary confinement in the state and replace isolation with humane, safe, and effective alternatives.
This event will provide information about the history of solitary confinement in the state and previous efforts to reduce the use of solitary. We will also address the specifics of the legislation we are planning to introduce and give a brief overview of how legislative advocacy concretely works in the state of Connecticut. If you are looking to become personally involved or if you want to connect your organization to the StopSolitaryCT campaign, you can sign up at this event!
Food and drinks will be provided!
We invite you to attend this coalition-building meeting, where we'll invite you to get involved in one or more of the following working groups:
Communications
Education
Outreach
Research
Arts
If possible, fill out this Google form to RSVP. But please come even if you don’t tell us in advance!
On Thursday May 16th, Stop Solitary CT is hosting our first community forum in New Haven to introduce our Campaign Organizer, Daryl McGraw, to discuss our goals for the coming year, and to invite you to join us in our work. At the forum, we will host speakers from Yale Law School’s Lowenstein Clinic for International Human Rights, who will share the findings from their year-long investigation into the use of solitary confinement and other abusive practices at Northern Correctional Institution, Connecticut’s supermax prison, and other prisons in the state. We’ll also hear from survivors of solitary confinement and individuals who are currently in solitary confinement in Connecticut who contributed to the Lowenstein Clinic’s investigation.
RSVP to the Facebook event here.
The QUAKERS Wilton Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends and the Westport Library, are pleased to present a community discussion on Solitary Confinement in Connecticut.
On any given day there are over 80,000 people in the U.S. held in solitary confinement, and the practice is used right here in Connecticut.
Please join us for a screening of “The Worst of the Worst: Portrait of a Supermax Prison” a film created by the Yale Visual Law Project. This compelling documentary takes us inside Connecticut’s Northern Correctional Institution and focuses on the terrible effects of solitary confinement on people isolated in their small prison cells for 23 hours a day, 7 days a week - for months or even years. The film shares the stories of family members and considers the impact of working in a supermax prison.
Our panel discussion after the film will include survivors of solitary confinement and advocates for reform. We look forward to seeing you and hearing your thoughts and questions.
The Solitary Confinement Project is a working group of the Wilton Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Its mission is to bring relief to those suffering from the torture of prolonged isolation in Connecticut prisons. Please visit us at www.quakercloud.org/cloud/wilton-monthly-meeting
The QUAKERS Wilton Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends and Norwalk Public Library (South Norwalk Branch, 1 0 Washington Street), are pleased to present a community discussion on Solitary Confinement in Connecticut.
On any given day there are over 80,000 people in the U.S. held in solitary confinement, and the practice is used right here in Connecticut.
Please join us for a screening of “The Worst of the Worst: Portrait of a Supermax Prison” a film created by the Yale Visual Law Project. This compelling documentary takes us inside Connecticut’s Northern Correctional Institution and focuses on the terrible effects of solitary confinement on people isolated in their small prison cells for 23 hours a day, 7 days a week - for months or even years. The film shares the stories of family members and considers the impact of working in a supermax prison.
Our panel discussion after the film will include survivors of solitary confinement and advocates for reform. We look forward to seeing you and hearing your thoughts and questions.
The Solitary Confinement Project is a working group of the Wilton Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Its mission is to bring relief to those suffering from the torture of prolonged isolation in Connecticut prisons. Please visit us at www.quakercloud.org/cloud/wilton-monthly-meeting
“Lifelines to Solitary: A Prison Correspondence Project” by Marlies Talay, Project Coordinator at Solitary Watch and Johnny Perez, re-entry advocate and survivor of solitary confinement. Marlies and Johnny will give a presentation about the Lifelines correspondence program, specifically designed to reach out to people in solitary confinement.
Rebellious Lawyering Conference at Yale Law School, including an event on the recently released Liman Center report, Reducing Time-in-cell.
Register for RebLaw here. The conference is free for residents of New Haven.
Scott Semple is the Connecticut Commissioner of Corrections. Before that, he served as the deputy commissioner for operations and rehabilitative services.Semple started as a correction officer at the Cheshire Correctional Institution in 1988. He held a variety of positions before being promoted to warden at Garner Correctional Institution in Newtown, which houses criminals with severe mental health problems. He served there for four years before becoming deputy commissioner.
Screening of documentary film, “Solitary,” followed by a panel discussion with: film director Kristi Jacobson; A. T. Wall, Director of Rhode Island Prison System; and Reginald Dwayne Betts, Liman fellow and award winning poet and author. Moderated by Judith Resnik, Arthur Liman Professor of Law, Yale Law School.
The title of Ava DuVernay’s extraordinary and galvanizing documentary refers to the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which reads “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States...” The progression from that second qualifying clause to the horrors of mass criminalization and the sprawling American prison industry is laid out by DuVernay with bracing lucidity. With a potent mixture of archival footage and testimony from a dazzling array of activists, politicians, historians, and formerly incarcerated women and men, DuVernay creates a work of grand historical synthesis. A trailer for the film can be found here.
About Ava DuVernay:
Nominated for two Academy Awards and four Golden Globes, writer/director Ava DuVernay's most recent feature "Selma" was one of 2015's most critically-acclaimed films. Winner of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival's Best Director Prize for her feature "Middle of Nowhere," DuVernay's earlier directorial work includes "I Will Follow," "Venus Vs," and "This is The Life." In Fall of 2016, her first television series as executive producer, writer and director, "Queen Sugar," debuted on Oprah Winfrey's network, OWN. DuVernay distributes and amplifies the work of other people of color and women directors through her film collective ARRAY, named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies in Hollywood for 2016.
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