The committee recorded Jess Zaccagnino urging abolition of prison debt, describing it as unjust and harmful to families
Jess ZaccagninoPolicy counsel, ACLU of Connecticut
The committee recorded Jess Zaccagnino urging abolition of prison debt, describing it as unjust and harmful to families.
“Described statement (committee summary): The committee recorded Jess Zaccagnino urging abolition of prison debt, describing it as unjust and harmful to families.”
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.
Source and context
Original text
About this source
Connecticut's Judiciary Committee voted to advance HB 5390, which proposed repealing incarceration-cost liability. The proposal did not become the full repeal advocates sought. The committee recorded Jess Zaccagnino urging abolition of prison debt, describing it as unjust and harmful to families. The committee recorded Barbara Fair supporting repeal because incarceration liens add an unjust burden after release. The committee recorded Lisa Foster urging repeal, arguing that incarceration fees are regressive and undermine reentry. The Division of Criminal Justice supported ending incarceration fees to help people return successfully to their communities.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
Connecticut's Judiciary Committee summarized testimony on HB 5390.
After the quotation
The report attributed support for abolishing prison debt to Zaccagnino.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Rejects continued fee collection.
- Recorded on
- Published here
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
- The committee recorded Jess Zaccagnino urging abolition of prison debt, describing it as unjust and harmful to families
- First published
- Last updated
- Permalink
- https://disputeindex.com/events/4294-the-committee-recorded-jess-zaccagnino-urging-abolition-of
Last updated marks the most recent saved version of this published statement.
The Dispute Index. "The committee recorded Jess Zaccagnino urging abolition of prison debt, describing it as unjust and harmful to families". First published: 2026-10-01. Last updated: 2026-10-01. https://disputeindex.com/events/4294-the-committee-recorded-jess-zaccagnino-urging-abolition-of