Barrett says the debt builds fast enough to reach astronomical numbers
Dan BarrettLegal director, ACLU of Connecticut
Barrett, the ACLU of Connecticut's legal director, said the daily cost Connecticut assigns to prisoners builds quickly enough to reach very high total debts in a short period.
“It builds so quickly that you can reach astronomical numbers within a comparatively short amount of time”
Reporting
Other statements by Dan Barrett in this case
- Barrett criticizes prison-debt claim against Torres as unconstitutionalEarlier: Condemned
Where this statement fits
Should Connecticut collect per diem incarceration fees from former inmates' settlements and windfalls?
Connecticut has charged incarcerated people a daily fee for the cost of their imprisonment since 1995, and state law lets the Department of Administrative Services collect on that debt for up to 20 years after release, including by taking up to half of a lottery win, inheritance or lawsuit settlement, or a lien against a deceased person's estate. A Connecticut Mirror investigation published September 27, 2026 found the daily rate has reached $347, that a year in prison can produce a debt of nearly $127,000, and that the state collected about $21 million this way from 2020 to mid-2026 from hundreds of formerly incarcerated people, including money from wrongful-death and police-brutality settlements. The legislature narrowed the law in 2022 and 2024, and a federal lawsuit led the state to withdraw its claims against its four named plaintiffs by October 2024, but collection from others has continued. The dispute is whether Connecticut should be allowed to collect this debt from former inmates' settlements, inheritances and windfalls at all, not whether any individual's specific bill was calculated correctly.
Source and context
Reporting
About this source
CT Mirror investigation into Connecticut's cost-of-incarceration collection law, published September 27, 2026. Based on a review of hundreds of probate-court cases filed from 2020 to 2026 and interviews with more than a dozen affected people, state officials, legislators and advocates. Anchors this case's account of the practice's scale, mechanics and the on-record positions of DAS, the Attorney General's office and named advocates and affected individuals.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
CT Mirror's investigation found Connecticut's daily per diem is more than double the federal government's rate.
After the quotation
Barrett separately said the state's practice amounts to trying to collect money from people who have very little left after prison.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Barrett directly criticizes the size and pace of the debt as unreasonably high, rejecting the fairness of its effect on people who owe it.
- Recorded on
- Published here
- People and groups discussed
- Connecticut Department of Correction, Connecticut Department of Administrative Services
More from this case
Read the full caseRojas says prison debt is inconsistent with lawmakers' criminal justice approach
“a policy that adds to that just seems really inconsistent”Read statement
Lamont supports prison-debt changes, with possible charges for wealthy former inmates
“Maybe if it's Gordon Gekko or some Wall Street titan, yeah, I think they should contribute to the cost of their incarceration. But I think for the other 90% of people, I want to make sure when they've served their time, they get back out, they're not stuck with an incredible burden that is impossible for them to pay off”Read statement
DeSenti says she cannot process losing the home she worked for
“I still can't wrap my head around losing the thing that I worked for”Read statement
Share or embed this statement
The embed keeps its attribution link to The Dispute Index. Credit the image to The Dispute Index and link to the statement page.
Cite this record
- Publisher
- The Dispute Index
- Title
- Barrett says the debt builds fast enough to reach astronomical numbers
- First published
- Last updated
- Permalink
- https://disputeindex.com/events/3263-barrett-the-aclu-of-connecticut-s-legal-director
Last updated marks the most recent saved version of this published statement.
The Dispute Index. "Barrett says the debt builds fast enough to reach astronomical numbers". First published: 2026-09-29. Last updated: 2026-09-29. https://disputeindex.com/events/3263-barrett-the-aclu-of-connecticut-s-legal-director