Teresa Beatty is a Stamford, Connecticut resident and certified nursing assistant. She was incarcerated in Connecticut from 2000 to 2002 and later became the lead plaintiff in a federal class-action lawsuit challenging the state's cost-of-incarceration law.
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: Formerly incarcerated Stamford resident; lead plaintiff, Beatty v. Lamont
Response to this claim
Connecticut's prison-debt law, under which the state can seize up to half of a settlement, inheritance or other financial windfall for up to 20 years after release, violates the Eighth Amendment's ban on excessive fines.
“I just don’t think it’s right, because I feel I already paid my debt to society. I just don’t think it’s fair for me to be paying twice”
Beatty directly rejects the practice as unfair to her personally, framing it as a second punishment for the same offense.
Statement dates: August 27, 2022
