Kissel defends requiring repayment of incarceration costs
John KisselConnecticut state senator (R-Enfield); co-sponsor of the 1995 law
Kissel, a co-sponsor of the 1995 law who remains the top Senate Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said taxpayers covered the cost of a person's incarceration and that requiring repayment on a reasonable schedule is a reasonable policy.
“The taxpayers footed the bill. They didn’t do anything wrong. And knowing that one has to pay the state back a reasonable sum on a regular basis is not a bad policy”
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
Associated Press wire story republished by NBC Connecticut, reported around the time Connecticut's 2022 partial overhaul of the cost-of-incarceration law took effect. Quotes Sen. John Kissel defending the underlying policy, Rep. Steve Stafstrom describing the reform's effect, and affected individuals including Teresa Beatty, Fred Hodges and Da'ee McKnight.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
Kissel was responding to Teresa Beatty's case and the 2022 debate over narrowing the law. In the same interview, the Associated Press reported that while Beatty's situation tugs at one's heartstrings, Kissel said, "Everybody has issues." He said he opposed the Democratic-led repeal effort but might support installment-payment reforms.
After the quotation
Kissel did not respond to the CT Mirror's requests for comment for its September 2026 report.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Kissel argues the underlying practice of requiring repayment is justified because taxpayers funded the incarceration and did nothing wrong.
- Recorded on
- Published here
- People and groups discussed
- Connecticut Department of Correction, Connecticut Department of Administrative Services
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The Dispute Index. "Kissel defends requiring repayment of incarceration costs". First published: 2026-09-29. Last updated: 2026-09-29. https://disputeindex.com/events/3270-kissel-a-co-sponsor-of-the-1995-law