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Another Person Incarcerated in Connecticut Dies from COVID-19

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, March 11, 2022

Contact:  Yonah Zeitz, yonah@katalcenter.org | (347) 201-2769

Follow on Twitter @KatalCenter | #FreeThemNowCT 


Another Person Incarcerated in Connecticut Dies from COVID-19

Connecticut Lawmakers Must Pass Legislation to Protect Incarcerated People from COVID-19 this Session 

Hartford, CT: News broke yesterday that another incarcerated person in Connecticut passed away due to COVID-19. This year, six people have died in custody of the CT Department of Corrections (DOC), bringing the total number of reported deaths in the Department due to COVID-19 to 29.  To date, almost 8,500 incarcerated people in the DOC have tested positive for COVID-19. This means that nearly 90% of the entire jail and prison population in the state have tested positive for the virus in state correctional facilities; in Connecticut, less than 20% of the  general population have tested positive for the virus. 

Statement from Kenyatta Muzzanni, Director of Organizing, Katal Center for Equity, Health, and Justice. 

“Katal offers our deepest condolences to the family of the person who died of COVID-19 in CT DOC Custody. Katal members and staff have loved ones incarcerated in Connecticut and we know how terrible this pandemic has been for incarcerated people in the state. 

These tragic deaths underscore the urgency to develop a comprehensive COVID-19 plan in the Department of Corrections, something Governor Lamont has refused to do. Since the pandemic began, community members, groups, and public health experts have called for Governor Lamont and the legislature to develop a clear, coherent plan for reducing the impact of COVID-19 in correctional facilities, including the rapid release of people from  jails and prisons. Since Governor Lamont has continued to disregard the recommendations of community groups, public health experts, and family members of those incarcerated, the General Assembly must step in and pass meaningful legislation to direct the DOC to protect lives in a pandemic. Otherwise, there will continue to be more preventable deaths of incarcerated people, who are disproportionately Black and brown.   

Lamont has failed here. Without action from the General Assembly, it is clear there will be more needless deaths.”

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