Op-Eds & Podcasts
Smaller and smaller cages are recipe for violence, not deterrence
By State Rep Ann Hughes, September 6, 2023
State Sen. Saud Anwar, myself and CT Child Advocate Sarah Egan got the opportunity to tour Garner Correctional Facility a few weeks ago and meet with a young inmate. I had previously toured Cheshire Correctional prior to the pandemic. This time I didn’t cry on the way home, but I did say to my colleagues, “We have to start over.” We can’t reform cages in systems that were designed to humiliate and punish (disproportionately brown and Black) humans, especially when these facilities, in the wake of the de-institutionalization of the 70’s and 80’s, now house people with serious mental illness battling post-traumatic stress injury and long-term effects of trauma. I came away further convinced that hell harms those who work inside it as well.
Opinion: Assaults on Prison Staff
By Barbara Fair, CT Mirror, August 24, 2023
Another story of an assault on correctional staff has made the news. I’m not surprised seeing that correctional staff are unhappy with the movement toward a more humane environment inside Connecticut jails, prisons and juvenile facilities and are pushing back against laws passed to move in that direction. Moving in that direction means changing policies that are oppressive, harsh, punitive and dehumanizing rather than supportive and rehabilitative. It means leadership having the courage , initiative and integrity to acknowledge that this department is doing a really poor job at improving the lives of people in its custody and instead releasing them back into a society broken spiritually and emotionally numb.
Opinion: Degrading strip searches remain in effect in CT
By Barbara Fair, CT Mirror, April 14, 2023
I just sat there looking into the faces of those who decided to not do anything and allow countless incarcerated people to continue to suffer this plight even after they were courageous enough to publicly bear the pain and anger they experience every time they are forced to comply to a policy. It is a policy that I would like to believe most of us consider repugnant, abusive and the most degrading sexual exploitation within Connecticut jails, prisons, and yes, youth facilities. Exploitations that borders on sadistic and perverted.
Opinion: Bad appointments failing those in Connecticut’s prisons
By Ann Massaro, CT Mirror, February 6, 2023
As Barbara Fair wrote in a recent commentary, we are still waiting for the law to be implemented. In addition to independent oversight, the law required four hours out-of-cell time for all incarcerated people in Connecticut. This has yet to happen. However, the latest barrier to implementation of the PROTECT Act has just recently happened while attempting to seat the Advisory Council.
Podcast: Connecticut prison advocates oppose new DOC oversight panel appointments
Ebong Udoma and Jaden Edison, CT Mirror, February 6, 2023
The new Correction Advisory Committee was cause for celebration, until advocates learned of two new appointments to the 11-member board. They say the appointees have close ties to the Department of Correction — the organization that the committee is expected to oversee impartially. WSHU’s Ebong Udoma spoke with CT Mirror’s Jaden Edison to discuss his article, “New DOC oversight panel appointments alarm advocates,” as part of the collaborative podcast Long Story Short. You can read his story here.
Opinion: Strip searching is state-sanctioned sexual violence
By Katie Hill, CT Mirror, February 3, 2023
If you are incarcerated, you will be strip searched often: when you are admitted into the facility, when you are returning to the facility from the hospital, when transferred from a new facility, when entering or returning from specialized housing units like restrictive housing or mental health housing, during prison shakedowns, after having contact visits with friends and family, meeting with your lawyer or a clergy member, and more. Importantly, you cannot freely consent, as the correctional officers carrying out the strip search have absolute power and authority over you. You cannot refuse without fear of backlash, as refusal likely results in a ticket to solitary confinement or forceful removal of your clothes.
Opinion: The Fine Line Between What’s Legal and What’s Right
By Barbara Fair, CT Mirror, December 28, 2022
In recent weeks I have discovered that there is a thin line between what’s legal and what’s right. I have become so disturbed by the justice system in this state and the lengths that some people will go to prevent racial and social progress from happening. Recently I find myself at a crossroads about future legislative advocacy work. I have questions like “Who can I trust, what can I trust, do I give up on policy work?” Trying to get relief for the most vulnerable in Connecticut is extremely difficult because we are such a highly segregated state and the most vulnerable are not reflected in our legislative body.
Opinion: Oversight of Department of Correction Undermined by Last Minute Legislative Maneuver
By Ann Massaro, CT Examiner, December 15, 2022
In May of this year, the PROTECT Act was finally passed into law, with a bipartisan vote in both houses of the Connecticut legislature. In addition to independent oversight, the law required 4-hours out-of cell time for all incarcerated people in Connecticut. This has yet to happen. However, the latest barrier to implementation of the PROTECT Act has just recently happened while attempting to seat the Advisory Council.
Opinion: Obstructionist Lawmaking in Connecticut
By Barbara Fair, CT Examiner, December 15, 2022
On Monday I testified at a public hearing to confirm 9 members to the newly forming CT Department of Correction oversight advisory committee. Stop Solitary, CT saw the need to call for independent oversight over the department following countless lawsuits, unnecessary early death, scandals among correctional staff, allegations of abusive and inhumane treatment and an internal grievance process that 99.5% of the time ruled against the complainants.
Opinion: Go all the way Governor Lamont: Sign the PROTECT Act
By David Acquaah-Mensah, CT Mirror, April 29, 2022
Governor Lamont voiced his support for that goal in his veto announcement. He signed Executive Order No. 21-1 in tandem with his veto as a replacement. His announcement claimed that Order 21-1 was “stronger than both the United Nations’ Mandela Rules and progressive policies and laws instituted in other states.” This is unequivocally false. The executive order has failed to live up to its lofty goals, endangering the human dignity of incarcerated people across the state.
Opinion: Connecticut Department of Correction Requires Systemic Change
By Kevnesha Boyd, CT Examiner, April 28, 2022
As a child, I was curious about why my Father experienced repeated periods of incarceration and was never rehabilitated. This curiosity evolved into a 15+ year educational and professional career working within the intersections of mental health and criminal justice systems. I have witnessed a multitude of evil acts committed against incarcerated people contributing to my resignation from New Haven Correctional Center in 2019.
Opinion: The Torture in Conn. Prisons
By Catherine Bradley, The Norwalk Hour, April 24, 2022
Solitary confinement. Restrictive housing. Administrative segregation. Whatever it is called, prolonged isolation in Connecticut prisons and jails is torture. It creates or exacerbates mental illness, damages physical health, and does nothing to reduce violence or recidivism.
Opinion: Running Out of Excuses, as Solitary Confinement Bill Wins DOC Support
By Noah Bradley, CT Examiner, April 22, 2022
Last week, the Judiciary Committee of the Connecticut General Assembly voted in support of a bill to restrict the use of solitary confinement in state prisons and jails. This isn’t the first time this has happened. Just last year, another version of the bill, known then and now as the PROTECT Act, passed both the House and the Senate only to be vetoed by Governor Ned Lamont. Lamont instead put forward his own executive order that he claimed would result in the same ends, but that has functionally done little to reduce the use of solitary confinement.
Opinion: Health and humanity are inseparable
By Vamsi Koneru, CT Mirror, April 22, 2022
In my work as a psychologist, I have the great privilege to see moments of tremendous vulnerability and courage. My work focuses on working with survivors of trauma, many of whom are in our criminal justice system. Mental health and incarceration have tremendous overlap, as over 50% of incarcerated individuals struggle with mental health issues and over 90% of individuals have a history of significant adversity and trauma, often stemming from childhood.
Opinion: PROTECT Act: Good Intentions Can Lead to Bad Consequences
By Barbara Fair, CT Examiner, April 16, 2022
The old saying that “good intentions can lead to bad consequences” reminds me of why we have solitary confinement in the first place. It was a suggestion (with good intentions) that the Quakers came up with. Their intent was to place people in solitude with the Bible believing it would help incarcerated people get closer to God. They never intended their initiative would evolve into sadism and psychological torture inside Connecticut prisons.
Opinion: It’s always a good time to do the right thing
By Barbara Fair, CT Mirror, April 12, 2022
On Thursday, March 31, Connecticut legislators had an opportunity to do the right thing in the name of justice and humanity and most did so when they voted the PROTECT Act, SB 459, out of the Judiciary Committee. Now the rest of the journey to the desk of Gov. Ned Lamont begins. Once again people from across the state will be watching and waiting for the governor’s signature.
Opinion: Judge the PROTECT Act Without the Misrepresentations of Last Year
By Barbara Fair, CT Examiner, April 4, 2022
With the upcoming vote I will be thinking about all the people across Connecticut who want to see us do the right thing. On my heart will be my son hoping that hearing this legislation is becoming law might bring him solace and lead toward healing from unspeakable pain he endured at age 17 inside Northern Supermax, in punitive segregation in Manson and in Garner CI where the seriously mentally ill end up after enduring state-sanctioned psychological torture. On my heart will be the parents of all those who lost their lives to this system, many young teens. Parents like Colleen Lord who has bravely fought with Stop Solitary CT so her son’s death inside Whalley Correctional would not have been in vain.
Opinion: Violent Criminals’ Acts Do Not Justify Harsh Conditions in Connecticut Prisons
By Ann Massaro, CT Examiner, March 12, 2022
Robert Curt responded to my letter regarding solitary confinement in Connecticut. Yes, Mr. Curt by any definition of torture, including the one used by the UN Human Rights Committee Against Torture, the UN special rapporteur twice cited Connecticut prisons, stating torture as “Deliberate infliction of severe mental pain or suffering may well amount to psychological torture.”
Opinion: “We Cry Too,” A Parent Urges Stronger Protections for the Incarcerated
By Barbara Fair, CT Examiner, March 10, 2022
I read about the opioid settlement with mixed emotions. I applaud the moms who fought tenaciously for accountability for the loss of their loved ones caught up in the opioid crisis. At the same time, it was a painful reminder the tears of white mothers receive national response. One mom tearfully spoke about the loss of two children to the opioid crisis. She fought to hold the wealthy Sackler family accountable for her pain, stating “They destroyed our lives”. As an African American mom, I have cried many tears since my son was tortured at the age of 17 inside CT’s supermax prison. He entered Manson Youth a promising hip hop performer and writer and left Northern with a shattered mind and a broken spirit. He spent time at Garner CI where he was heavily medicated to treat psychosis, anxiety, PTSD and depression following what the United Nations defined as torture. There is no Attorney General to assist me in holding CT Department of Correction liable for harm my son endured. His role is to protect the state.
Podcast: Ray Boyd - Revisiting the PROTECT Act / A Life in Six Boxes
Featuring Ray Boyd and Barbara Fair, Amplified Voices, March 7, 2022
Ray Boyd was incarcerated in 1992, facing a 50 year sentence. He ultimately spent close to 30 years in prison in Connecticut before being released. Ray experienced Covid 19 while incarcerated and reentry during the pandemic. Ray shares his story with Amber and Jason. Ray, Amber, and Jason are joined by Barbara Fair from Stop Solitary Connecticut.
In 2021, Governor Lamont vetoed the PROTECT Act, and instead issued an executive order that can be repealed at any time. In 2022, Connecticut advocates led by Stop Solitary are organizing to finally have the Protect Act signed into law.
Opinion: A minimum standard of Connecticut justice: Pass the PROTECT Act
By Noah Bradley, Elaine Cheng, and Caleb Lee, CT Mirror, March 4, 2022
In imposing strict limits on the use of solitary confinement, the 2021 PROTECT Act would have prevented hundreds of people in Connecticut prisons from experiencing the harrowing isolation that Mandela endured four decades ago. But Gov. Ned Lamont vetoed the bill last June, issuing an Executive Order in its place, nullifying the will of the legislature and the voices of directly impacted people across the state.
Opinion: Recognize our shared humanity with those incarcerated
By Allie Perry, New Haven Independent, February 25, 2022
Just about a year ago I wrote a Faith Matters column urging people of faith in Connecticut to support The PROTECT (Promoting Responsible Oversight, Treatment, and Effective Correctional Transparency) Act, then known as Senate Bill 1059, to limit the harms of prolonged isolation, aka solitary confinement, in Connecticut prisons. Both chambers of the General Assembly passed the bill with bipartisan support. It was on its way to becoming law. Its remaining hurdle? The governor’s signature.
Opinion: What Happens When Systems Are Allowed to Police Themselves
By Barbara Fair, CT Examiner, February 1, 2022
While they awaited Governor Lamont’s signing [SB 1059] into law they were shocked and dismayed when he decided to veto the policy. In its place he established an executive order which, according to people on the inside, has actually placed people in the worst kind of conditions they have ever faced. Four men have died of COVID just in this month alone. Medical care has been a huge problem within Department of Corrections for decades. Countless lawsuits have been settled for millions of dollars due to medical neglect.
Opinion: Solitary Confinement Is Torture, Not Politics
By Ann Massaro, CT Examiner, January 31, 2022
Last year, my husband, Michael Massaro, testified before the Connecticut State Judiciary Committee in support of SB 1059, the PROTECT Act. Michael was a life-long Republican and lifetime resident of Connecticut. He testified that he believed that solitary confinement, or extreme isolation by whatever name it is called, is torture. He said that his humanity would not allow him to support solitary confinement, that he did not want his tax dollars being spent on torturing other human beings.
Opinion: Abolish solitary confinement. Start with oversight of the Department of Corrections.
By Jason Altshuler, CT Mirror, December 9, 2021
Governor Lamont’s executive order misunderstands what must be done: rather than ask which incarcerated people are fit to be put in solitary, we ought to ask whether the DOC has the capacity to be making these decisions at all. Right now, Lamont is trying to appease all sides. But the health and future of incarcerated people are at stake, and as a state, we must choose humanity over convenience. To establish external oversight is to take a permanent step toward a more just society; to allow the DOC to police itself, according to guidelines rife with loopholes, is to change nothing.
The Importance of Providing Oversight for the Department of Corrections (Part II)
Featuring Michael Braham, Barbara Fair, David McGuire, Robyn Porter, and Alexander Taubes, The Tom Ficklin Show, November 8, 2021
The guards and the unions have used the Governor’s executive order as a way to use eating time to be considered out of cell time. Even though the executive order mandated two hours out of cell, what used to be regular eating times are now contributing to their time out of cell. In other words, the Governor's executive order was a wasted piece of paper that the guards are using to pretty much do what they want to do. There's no accountability to anyone.
Opinion: Governor’s executive order undermines real shift in prison culture
By Barbara Fair, CT Mirror, November 8, 2021
I receive letters on a regular basis speaking to how conditions in our prisons have gone from bad to deplorable to outright inhumane. Guards have pushed back by calling out sick on a regular basis, so the order to begin allowing more out-of-cell time and free phone calls has been undermined by “staff shortages.” According to the letters we receive from Cheshire Correctional Institute, the inmates are on lockdown from Thursday to Sunday, drastically reducing visits and phone calls.
The administrative staff is unaware this has been going on for months, which is exactly why independent oversight and community input must be statutorily implemented. We are among the very few states in the nation with no corrections oversight.
The Importance of Providing Oversight for the Department of Corrections (Part I)
Featuring Barbara Fair, Claudine Fox, Hope Metcalf, and Gary Winfield, The Tom Ficklin Show, November 1, 2021
I’m getting letters from people in Cheshire saying that they’re in worse conditions now than they were before the executive order because from Thursday to Sunday, they’re locked down all day long. That interferes with visits and with them getting out of cell. We want people to know up front that the executive order did not make things better—it actually made things worse for the people on the inside.
Opinion: Are Connecticut Politics Serving The Greater Good?
By Barbara Fair, CT Examiner, July 16, 2021
Just last week we celebrated Independence Day. Do we need to return to the words of the US Constitution? America’s founding fathers laid the foundation for our political climate. Within the Constitution it read “When government no longer serves the people; the people have the right to alter or abolish it and reinstitute new government.” Those who hold governmental power must always be cognizant their power derives from the people being governed. “We the people” must guide their actions or we face tyranny.
Opinion: Torture as a “Necessary Tool” Shows How Sadistic and Inhumane We Have Become
By Barbara Fair, CT Examiner, July 7, 2021
On June 30, 2021, with the stroke of the Governor’s pen, Connecticut’s democracy took a hit. The people’s voice was nullified. At a time when human decency called for a limit to be placed on solitary confinement, another group demanded the Governor ignore the people’s voice and the will of our legislators because torturing people is “a necessary tool” to maintain safety behind bars.
Opinion: Governor Lamont must sign anti-solitary bill
By Reena Kapor, CT Mirror, June 22, 2021
Two weeks ago, just past midnight, the PROTECT Act passed through the state legislature. Now, this historic bill sits on the desk of Gov. Ned Lamont. Connecticut has the opportunity to substantially limit the harmful practice of solitary confinement, and our state’s path toward evidence-based and humane treatment of incarcerated people depends on his signature.I am a forensic psychiatrist and have spent my career providing care to people in the criminal-legal system, including in the Connecticut Department of Correction. I have extensively studied the psychological effects of solitary confinement, and over the past decade I have advised the U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, state legislatures, federal courts, correctional systems, and advocacy groups about mental health treatment and the use of solitary confinement in prisons. My years of experience with solitary have led me to an unambiguous conclusion: conditions of extreme isolation are damaging and counterproductive.
Opinion: Ending profound prison isolation protects us all
By Judith Resnik & Anna VanCleave, CT Post, May 28th, 2021
The PROTECT Act (Senate Bill 1059) — a statute that would end prolonged solitary confinement in Connecticut — is now before our legislators. As it name reflects, passage would make us all safer by stopping a form of punishment known as solitary confinement, which is the debilitating experience of being left alone in a small prison cell for days, months and years on end. Decades ago, prison officials expanded the use of solitary confinement because they believed it could “solve” the problem of dealing with people whom they perceived to be “threats” to institutional security. In contrast, leaders of correctional systems today are part of a nationwide effort to end profound isolation, which they now understood to be a problem itself in need of a solution.
Opinion: To support mental health, we must end solitary confinement
By Catherine Bradley, CT Post, May 27th, 2021
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. When people think about mental health, they may picture therapists helping clients, counselors advising students, or teachers promoting resiliency and kindness. However, our state lawmakers have an important role to play in promoting mental health, as well. In addition to passing proactive mental health support, Connecticut lawmakers should seek to eliminate measures that perpetuate and exacerbate mental illness. One of these measures is the practice of solitary confinement and extreme isolation within the Department of Correction.
Opinion: End—Don’t Move—Solitary Confinement
Kezlyn Mendez , New Haven Independent, May 26th, 2021
I am writing to you from inside my cell in MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield. As a victim and witness of the abuse prisoners suffer in this state, I strongly support S. B. 1059, the bill to end long-term solitary confinement.Solitary confinement destroys individuals like myself and leaves people with serious mental health issues without the proper treatment or help. I would know. Altogether, I spent more than five years at Northern Correctional Institution, Connecticut’s notorious supermax prison. That prison is now closing. But all around me, I am seeing that the Department of Correction (DOC) has no intention of stopping the abuses I endured there.
Bill would end solitary confinement
By Tracie Bernardi, Republican American, May 25th, 2021
At 19, I was sentenced to 30 years in prison. At 26, I entered solitary confinement. I was sent there for what was supposed to be a two-year stint. In the end, I did not see the light of day until I was 32. The isolation led me to self-harm and suicidal behavior, which was punished with more solitude, rather than treatment and care. I spent seven winters alone, seven springs alone, seven summers alone and seven falls alone – seven consecutive years without human contact. I took showers in handcuffs. I received food not fit for a dog through a slot in my steel cell door. The guards would taunt us, threatening that they may or may not have spat in the food, and we’d starve ourselves, afraid to eat their phlegm. It was unlivable. The conditions were so extreme that I hanged myself, trying to die by suicide.
Ending solitary confinement will protect lives and also save money
By Joseph Gaylin, CT Mirror, May 19th, 2021
The Protect Act would be budget positive to the tune of $15.1 million. After considering appropriate context and recognizing that the bill’s legislative champions plan to introduce an amendment that would eliminate a provision about phone calls, Stop Solitary CT projected that the PROTECT Act would cost, at most, $1.9 million. This sum would be more than offset by the $17 million in projected savings that come from ending prolonged isolation. The PROTECT Act’s initially inflated fiscal note highlights an insidious dynamic in the legislative process: tagging transformative legislation with an unduly high fiscal note simply because an agency is worried about implementation. As the electorate increasingly recognizes the harms of a bloated correctional bureaucracy, policy makers should be wary of claims that humane conditions require massive new expenditures. Ending torture in the Connecticut DOC requires legislative change and a cultural shift, not massive new expenditures.
A Quakerly justice reform appeal of conscience
By Madeleine Wilken, CT Mirror, May 14th, 2021
In this Connecticut legislative session, a bill, The PROTECT Act, S.B. 1059, offers Connecticut’s lawmakers the opportunity to reject solitary confinement in favor of a correction system that affirms the humanity of the people who live and work in prisons. In April of this year, S.B. 1059 was reported favorably out of the Joint Committee on Judiciary of the Connecticut General Assembly and has been placed on the Senate calendar.I support the PROTECT ACT for moral, religious, and practical reasons. I ask my Wilton Friends and friends to support it as well!
The state legislature must end solitary confinement
By Mary Morgan Wolff, CT Mirror, May 12th, 2021
I oversaw a long-term solitary confinement unit in Connecticut. Isolated confinement harms us all. When I think about the solitary confinement unit that I oversaw, the first thing I remember is the sound. Constant banging on cell doors, jangling keys, and most of all, people yelling from their single cells. Whenever I toured the unit, people would shout to me: “Warden! Warden! I need to talk to you!” I always stopped to listen. But moments of compassion can only do so much in an environment where people are locked up 23 hours per day. I saw incarcerated people break down, brought to the point of mental health crisis by the extreme environment. Staff suffered too; even I was traumatized.
Solitary confinement is a form of torture. It must end.
By Rev. Ann Perrott, The Day, May 4th, May 4th, 2021
Solitary Confinement is torture and must end. Let me explain why. The Connecticut legislature is considering Senate Bill 1059 – The Protect Act. The Judiciary Committee has reported it out and it is tabled for the Senate calendar. The time is ripe for action. On March 22, in a public hearing that lasted more than 11 hours, our representatives heard the passionate voices of people affected by solitary confinement. They heard from formerly incarcerated survivors, prison staff traumatized by their working environment, and loving mothers whose children were tortured in prison. They heard statements from prisoners, even some in solitary. These were very powerful. One individual, William McKinney, testified from Osborn Correctional Institution, a prison where I have facilitated courses.
Everybody in, especially those left out
By State Rep. Ann Hughes, CT Mirror, April 12th, 2021
We have fierce proposals before the General Assembly now that restore access to justice denied and delayed: The Protect Act, Stop Solitary: Stop Extreme Isolation and Abusive Restraints: SB 1059, and Correction Accountability; SB 972, end profiting off of incarcerated phone calls with families; Collateral Employment Consequences of a Criminal Record: HB 6474; Clean slate: HB 5935. Time to end state-sanctioned torture and release the ‘Prisoners of War on Drugs.’ We got to experience first-hand Connecticut’s solitary confinement cell, recreated to spec, for lawmakers to enter at the Capitol with actual taped horrific sounds assaulting our senses. I could not endure being locked in the cell for longer than 20 minutes.
Amplified Voices — Barbara Fair, Stop Solitary CT
By Barbara Fair, Podcast, April 1st, 2021
Barbara Fair is a licensed clinical social worker and social justice activist with Stop Solitary Connecticut who has worked tirelessly for decades to improve prison conditions, bring awareness to the impact incarceration has on children and families, and demand accountability for state violence as it relates to police departments and correctional facilities in Connecticut. She has long called for the abolition of solitary confinement, testifying in support of and organizing on behalf of many legislative reforms. Amber and Jason caught up with Barbara a few days after a major public hearing for the PROTECT Act (Connecticut Senate Bill 1059) that calls for an end to extreme isolation and abusive restraints, promotes social bonds, ensures the shut down of Northern Correctional Institution, reforms data collection and improves oversight & accountability. Barbara shared personal stories dating back to the ‘60s through present times.
Support more humane treatment in prisons
By Ann Froines, New Haven Register, March 31st, 2021
Many Connecticut voters were glad to hear that Northern Correctional Institution in Somers — a “supermax” prison — is going to close. Such maximum security prisons have proven to be both costly and especially cruel, and do little to protect our communities. As a resident of Hamden for 15 years, I urge fellow citizens to support the reforms embodied in the proposed “Protect Act.” This legislation would restrict the use of prolonged isolation and end the use of abusive restraints, all of which constitute inhumane and ineffective treatment. At present, these practices harm mental health and further destroy chances of rehabilitation for incarcerated persons.
Quakers and solitary confinement: We thought it was a good idea. Now we don’t!
By Twelve Connecticut Quakers, CT Mirror, March 17th, 2021
If ever there was an institution exemplifying the adage “the road to hell is paved with good intentions,” solitary confinement in our prisons would be it. Quakers in England and in Pennsylvania played a large role in the introduction of isolation as an alternative to the mayhem that was prevalent in prisons. In the U.S. a group of reformers, including many Friends (Quakers), developed a vision of the penitentiary as an alternative to these squalid dungeons. The notion at the time was that providing a space for silent, solitary reflection and penitence would result in rehabilitation. Instead, the stark isolation caused people to deteriorate mentally and physically.
Black and brown people wait for justice in Connecticut
By Barbara Fair, CT Mirror, March 16th, 2021
Connecticut prides itself being a progressive state. One peek into the Criminal Justice and Correctional system tells a story in contrast. It tells a story of deeply embedded structural and institutional racial disparity within every state organization. Although Connecticut is over 72% white every system that negatively impacts Connecticut society is predominantly Black and brown. Clearly in Connecticut the arc of the moral universe is slow to bend toward justice. When a deeply tragic incident stole the lives of three Cheshire residents, justice was swift. Immediate arrests were made, laws were passed with deliberate speed within one legislative session and parole policies were immediately changed, disrupting the lives of many who had been successfully transitioning back into their communities. Many found themselves hauled back into prisons without legal challenge.
Thumbs up, thumbs down
By Editorial Board of New Haven Register, March 3rd, 2021
Thumbs up to a report from Stop Solitary CT that finds ending the practice of isolating inmates in prison could save the state as much as $17 million each year. Connecticut is already going to save money by shuttering Northern Correctional Institution, Connecticut’s only “supermax” prison, on July 1, which will result in $12.6 million in savings. There are good reasons to stop solitary confinement, with few exceptions regarding immediate safety, and the financial justification should be added to that discussion. Even as crime has increased in some Connecticut communities in the past year, we can commit to better practices in our prisons.
End Solitary Confinement
By Melissa Wang, New Haven Independent, March 1st, 2021
On the first of July last year, just over a month after the murder of George Floyd, Gov. Ned Lamont reaffirmed his commitment to racial justice and denouncing bigotry. On the cusp of the legislature coming back into session, he stated, “You’ve got to change the heart and that takes each and every one of you standing up.”Now, nearly eight months after, in a new legislative session, we are still waiting for Governor Lamont to stand up against one of the cruelest and most senseless continuations of racial injustice: solitary confinement.
The fight to end solitary confinement in Connecticut isn’t over. Closing Northern was just a first step
By the Steering Committee of SSCT, Hartford Courant, February 22nd, 2021
Gov. Ned Lamont has announced a long-awaited and hard-fought victory for activists: The horrific supermax prison, Northern Correctional Institution, will close this year. The announcement came less than a week after the Connecticut Department of Correction was sued for the alleged physical and psychological abuse of people with mental illness incarcerated at the facility. The lawsuit was the latest milestone in a two-decade-long campaign against the supermax, where life is defined by social isolation and sensory deprivation. We celebrate an end, at long last, to the torture inflicted inside those walls. But we know that the fight to protect all incarcerated people in Connecticut is far from over.
Complicity over Northern Correction Institution
By Barbara Fair, CT Mirror, February 11th, 2021
To hear Commissioner Quiros state his decision to close Northern was “attributed to the drop in incarcerated people and as an obligation to taxpayers” and savings would go toward closing the state budget deficit, I wondered if he had any problem with the treatment of those held there. It was disheartening and I wondered if would lead to acknowledging and respecting the human dignity of incarcerated people? The ultimate tragedy of Northern CI is not the depraved cruelty toward humans by bad characters, but the silence and willingness of good people to allow it to occur.
Gov. Lamont, anti-racist legislation cannot begin with a compromise
By Joseph Gaylin, CT Mirror, June 15, 2020
Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration stands at a crossroad. Down one path is real change and anti-racist legislation; down another are mere procedural reforms that leave a disastrous status quo mostly intact. The governor chose the wrong path in a recent letter sent to the legislature. In it, he proclaimed that he would call for a special session only after legislative leaders developed a bipartisan compromise, effectively shielding the legislative process from the public and likely stripping a civil rights bill of its most meaningful provisions.
Faced with another black man’s death on national TV
By Barbara Fair, New Haven Register, June 12, 2020
I couldn’t believe someone could be so callous toward another human being. I couldn’t imagine how his family endured seeing that moment captured on video played over and over on national TV. I wondered then if the media considered his family and here we are six years later doing it all over again.
Why is releasing prisoners early during this pandemic a no-no?
By Barbara Fair, CT Mirror, April 25, 2020
I’m witnessing the lack of human connection between the incarcerated and the administration that holds them in custody. In a recent interview the Department of Correction commissioner stated he felt “at war with protesters” who he said were a “distraction.” A much needed distraction considering what’s going on in relation to COVID in Connecticut prisons. Protest is the voice of the unheard. No one should see them as the enemy. They simply ask what any compassionate human being would want for those who for the most part are invisible in our society. Protesters are their voice. I have seen a lot in my 71 years of life and this is among the most painful experiences I have witnessed.
Placing prisoners with COVID-19 at Northern Correctional Institution is barbaric
By Nancy Alisberg, CT Mirror, April 22
The Department of Correction’s plan of moving prisoners with COVID-19 to Northern Correctional Institution is nothing short of barbaric. DOC claims that Northern is ideal for, among other reasons, the cells have solid metal doors that will prevent the virus from spreading. In fact, those solid metal doors are among one of the chief reasons that the plan violates the civil and human rights of those prisoners.
Connecticut’s outrageous response to COVID-19-affected prisoners
By Leighton Johnson, CT Mirror, April 14th, 2020
If this is what they are saying about lower level facilities, imagine the atrocities that will take place and the deaths that are sure to come, in a place that was designed for the supposed “worst of the worst.” The same exact place that was deemed unconstitutional and a torture chamber and that StopSolitaryCT, the ACLU and countless other organizations have been trying to shut down, is the place Gov. Ned Lamont and Correction Commissioner Rollin Cook choose to send people because they are sick? Where is the humanity in that?
Opinion: Lamont must act now to reduce population of state prisons
By Allie Perry, New Haven Register, April 9th, 2020
Gov. Ned Lamont clearly has no interest, none at all, in hearing from concerned citizens about the urgent need for immediate release of several categories of people currently incarcerated in Connecticut prisons, for example: older and medically at risk individuals, those within 30 days of their already-scheduled release, those being held for minor offenses because they can’t afford bond and presentencing detainees.
State Rep. Josh Elliott (opinion): We must de-densify prisons
By Josh Elliot, New Haven Register, April 8th, 2020
On April 3, the ACLU sued the state of Connecticut to force the release of some incarcerated people. The organization essentially stated that allowing individuals to languish through disease is an additional penalty the courts did not impose. I agree and support their efforts. I further support the efforts of Stop Solitary CT who has called on the governor to support thoughtful prison de-densification, rather than across the board lockdowns.
To Contain Coronavirus, Release People in Prison
By Joseph Gaylin, Noora Reffat, and Arvind Venkataraman, CT Mirror, March 14, 2020
During hurricane Katrina incarcerated people were left for dead in Louisiana. Locked in their cells, they watched the water rising around them. Amidst the chaos of the flood, the state and municipal government ignored their cries for help waiting too long to implement an effective response. The water is rising again– but this time, the disaster is a tidal wave of new infections.
Solitary Confinement, a necessary tool?
By Barbara Fair, CT Mirror, March 5th, 2020
According to international law solitary confinement is defined as keeping people locked up 22 hours a day or more. In Connecticut, several facilities house people for 22 or more hours a day. Not all are like Northern where the harshest conditions exist. Several keep people caged on a regular, non- punitive practice including Manson Youth facility which is under federal investigation related to the harsh conditions under which our youth are held.
Editorial: Best and the Rest of the Past Week
By Hearst Connecticut Media Editorial Board, January 28, 2020 - New Haven Register
Thumbs up to a plan to dramatically reduce the use of solitary confinement in Connecticut prisons. The group known as Stop Solitary CT defines the punishment as 16 or more hours in a locked cell except in specific circumstances, including during a lockdown, as an emergency response to a threat or because someone requested it for their own protection. In most circumstances, solitary confinement is considered a cruel and outdated punishment. Legislators should listen to advocates on this issue.
More must be done to humanize Connecticut criminal justice
By Barbara Fair, June 22, 2017
After months of tireless work to bring awareness to state legislators about the harm associated with solitary confinement, a bill was passed that doesn’t even scratch the surface of what must happen to humanize criminal justice in this state. When states as notorious for prisoner abuse as California and Texas are making changes in prisoner treatment, one must wonder why Connecticut is lagging behind.