Dan Barrett is the legal director of the ACLU of Connecticut. He previously directed litigation at the ACLU of Vermont and clerked for U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton in Connecticut. His litigation and advocacy work has focused on police accountability, privacy, racial profiling and First Amendment rights.
Case
Connecticut charges incarcerated people up to $347 a day and can collect the debt for 20 years after release, including from settlements and inheritances. A 2026 investigation found the state collected about $21 million this way since 2020.
Role at the time: Legal director, ACLU of Connecticut
Statement summary
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”
Barrett directly criticizes the size and pace of the debt as unreasonably high, rejecting the fairness of its effect on people who owe it.
Statement dates: September 27, 2026
