Fixing Connecticut’s Probation and Parole Problems
In May, we released a groundbreaking report with our partners at the Prison Policy Initiative about the overuse of parole – and the massive overuse of probation – in Connecticut and how these systems have become a trap door that leads to incarceration, especially for Black, brown, and low-income people.
The report outlines four reforms Connecticut must take to reduce correctional populations and make community supervision more fair, just, and supportive:
- Restricting the use of incarceration for noncriminal “technical” violations. Incarceration should be eliminated as a sanction for many noncriminal violations.
- Eliminating automatic detention for noncriminal “technical” violations. Instead, people accused of most noncriminal violations should be issued a written notice with a date to appear in court if deemed necessary.
- Applying earned time credit to supervision sentences. As a reward for a given period of compliance, people should be credited with time off of their supervision sentence.
- Bolstering due process. This includes speeding up the time from initial hearing to final disposition, providing the most neutral public locations possible for revocation hearings, and guaranteeing the right to counsel during hearings.
Over the past month we held multiple issue meetings with directly impacted people and community members across the state to discuss the report and its key findings. We also recently gave a presentation on the report at the Stamford Reentry Roundtable. We’re scheduling more info sessions and presentations with organizations and groups across the state. If you are interested in hosting a house party or having your organization hold an info session, please respond to this email!
Check out more about the report and learn how you can take action to fix the state’s overly punitive system:
- Read the full report, our press release, and check out news coverage from the CT Insider.
- Fill out this online action alert to email Governor Lamont and your state lawmakers and to demand that they fix probation and parole by implementing the recommendations from the report.
- Take our Justice Impact Survey so we can learn more about how the state’s community supervision system affects you.
To get involved in our efforts to fix probation and parole, please email Maribel Rodriguez at maribel@katalcenter.org.
Tabling at DominGO! Hartford
Last weekend, we tabled with our members at DominGO! Hartford and talked with community members about the issues they care about, the work we are doing to reduce mass supervision and incarceration in Connecticut, and how they can get involved in our campaigns to fix the probation and parole systems. We spoke with people about the need for the state to invest in affordable housing, schools, summer and afterschool programs instead of prisons and correctional supervision.
Got any block parties or community events coming up where we can table? Please email Maribel Rodriguez at maribel@katalcenter.org.
Katal Quotes of the Week
These are some of the quotes we’re thinking about this week.
“Love is an action, never simply a feeling.” —bell hooks
“We committed ourselves to transformational organizing, which does not mainly denounce and protest oppression or mobilize Americans to struggle for more material things, but challenges us as Americans to evolve or transform ourselves into more human human beings.” —Grace Lee Boggs, “Organization Means Commitment”
For printing and distribution, download the Katal Weekly Update PDF version.
Katal works to strengthen the people, policies, institutions, and movements that advance equity, health, and justice. Join us: web, Twitter, Instagram, & Facebook! Email: info@katalcenter.org Phone: 646.875.8822.
