Brian Sullivan urged repeal of prison debt, arguing that people who complete their sentences should not face additional financial punishment
Brian K. Sullivan Sr.Smart Justice leader, ACLU of Connecticut
Brian Sullivan urged repeal of prison debt, arguing that people who complete their sentences should not face additional financial punishment.
“It is wrong, unjust, and oppressive to attempt to charge people for prison debt.”
Original text
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.
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Original text
About this source
Brian Sullivan urged repeal of prison debt, arguing that people who complete their sentences should not face additional financial punishment.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
Sullivan submitted testimony supporting HB 5390.
After the quotation
Sullivan argued that people should not face further financial punishment after completing their sentences.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Urges repeal of continued fee collection; welcoming partial reform does not endorse the remaining liens.
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The Dispute Index. "Brian Sullivan urged repeal of prison debt, arguing that people who complete their sentences should not face additional financial punishment". First published: 2026-10-01. Last updated: 2026-10-01. https://disputeindex.com/events/4292-brian-sullivan-urged-repeal-of-prison-debt-arguing