Public disputes concerning sentencing, incarceration, prison conditions, probation and parole, reentry, and the policies and institutions that govern how the criminal justice system treats people who are charged, convicted or formerly incarcerated.
Published coverage on this page: 4 cases · 6 statements. Statements are ordered newest first.
Texas DPS arrested Austin council candidate Misael Ramos on a riot charge over the September 20 protest after an ICE shooting. DPS says video shows him moving barricades and sandbags. His attorney disputes that the protest was a riot.
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6 matching statements
Role at the time: Hamden resident
Statement summary
DeSenti, who had to sell the home she and her late husband had renovated together to help satisfy the debt the state assessed for his earlier incarceration, said she still cannot process losing what she worked for.
“I still can't wrap my head around losing the thing that I worked for”
What this label refers to
DeSenti directly objects to losing her home to satisfy the state's incarceration debt, describing the loss as something she still cannot accept.
Role at the time: Civil-rights and criminal-defense attorney
Statement summary
Taubes, a New Haven civil-rights attorney, said carrying incarceration debt makes it harder for formerly incarcerated people to reintegrate into society.
“It hurts people's ability to reintegrate into society when they carry these debts”
What this label refers to
Taubes criticizes the practical effect of the debt on people rebuilding their lives after release.
Role at the time: Co-founder, Fines and Fees Justice Center; former California Superior Court judge
Statement summary
Foster, a co-founder of the Fines and Fees Justice Center and a former California judge, said laws like Connecticut's function as an extra financial punishment on people who have already served their sentence.
“It's not the way we should be running the criminal justice system. It's a regressive tax”
What this label refers to
Foster rejects the law as an improper way to run the criminal justice system and frames it as an unfair extra tax on formerly incarcerated people.
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”
What this label refers to
Barrett directly criticizes the size and pace of the debt as unreasonably high, rejecting the fairness of its effect on people who owe it.
Role at the time: Plaintiff, Beatty v. Lamont; mother of Jayson Negron
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.
Quotation excerpt
“No family should have to bury a child, and the state is making that pain worse. I will never stop grieving Jayson. The settlement in his death was the best acknowledgment we could get that they took his life, and that it was wrong. The…”
“No family should have to bury a child, and the state is making that pain worse. I will never stop grieving Jayson. The settlement in his death was the best acknowledgment we could get that they took his life, and that it was wrong. The state trying to take that money forces me and my family to relive the trauma of Jayson’s death, and it has left me angry and hurt. By joining this lawsuit, I am fighting for myself and for other families, because none of us should have to go through this”
Tosado directly objects to the state pursuing part of a wrongful-death settlement tied to her son's death, describing the practice as adding to her family's harm.
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.
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.
1 case and 1 statement
John A. Kissel is a Republican member of the Connecticut State Senate representing the 7th district, which includes Enfield and surrounding towns. He has served in the Senate since 1993 and is the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee.
1 case and 1 statement
Connecticut attorney general
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Governor of Connecticut
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