Taubes says the debt hurts reintegration
Alex TaubesCivil-rights and criminal-defense attorney
Taubes, a New Haven civil-rights attorney, said carrying incarceration debt makes it harder for formerly incarcerated people to reintegrate into society.
“It hurts people's ability to reintegrate into society when they carry these debts”
Reporting
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
Taubes was commenting on the effect of Connecticut's incarceration debt on people after release.
After the quotation
CT Mirror's investigation found many people pursued for the debt did not know they owed it until a lien was filed against them.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Taubes criticizes the practical effect of the debt on people rebuilding their lives after release.
- Recorded on
- Published here
- People and groups discussed
- Connecticut Department of Correction, Connecticut Department of Administrative Services
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The Dispute Index. "Taubes says the debt hurts reintegration". First published: 2026-09-29. Last updated: 2026-09-29. https://disputeindex.com/events/3268-taubes-a-new-haven-civil-rights-attorney-said