The Staff at the Collaborative Center for Justice recently sent the following letter to Governor Lamont urging him to safely release many incarcerated individuals to keep them and the wider community safe during our current public health crisis. We invite you to reach out to Governor Lamont about this important issue as well.
April 13, 2020
Dear Governor Lamont,
We write from the Collaborative Center for Justice, a Hartford-based social justice organization sponsored by six communities of Catholic nuns. As people of faith, we believe it is a moral imperative to ensure that the most vulnerable people in our communities are prioritized in the state’s COVID-19 prevention, mitigation, and relief efforts. Even before the arrival of this pandemic, thousands of people in Connecticut faced barriers to meeting their basic human needs. This public health crisis is exacerbating these challenges for the state’s poorest.
We believe that a society is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable members. We are all interconnected. No widespread illness or its impacts will stay within the confines of one community. That is why we were alarmed to learn that your administration’s plan was to wait until after Department of Corrections healthcare capacity is overwhelmed before you would consider releasing prisoners. That is a death sentence for many, and a public health catastrophe for the communities into which the survivors will be released.
This is a particularly dangerous time to live at the margins. Our state faces a profound choice in this moment: will we implement policies that comfort only the privileged, or will we enact bold, humane solutions that will ensure the health and safety of our most vulnerable neighbors. We are grateful that you have acted to house some of the people experiencing homelessness in facilities that are compliant with CDC guidance. We hope these efforts will expand in the coming weeks.
Now that dozens of DOC prisoners have tested positive for COVID-19, we urge you to take similarly bold actions to defend the human rights of the imprisoned. Releasing the following would be an impactful first step: all youth who do not pose a threat to others; those who are legally innocent, yet remain in pretrial detention; people near the end of their sentence; and like New York, people who were reincarcerated due to a technical parole violation. Additionally, DOC must provide a safety plan to the public for those who remain incarcerated.
Human value is not determined by social position. These populations deserve to have the government meet their needs with the same urgency as everyone else’s. We urge you to heed these demands not just because it is the right thing to do, but also because they will protect the health of the general public. This crisis demands more mercy and solidarity from us all. That begins with our leaders. Thank you.
Dwayne David Paul – Director
Rachel Lea Scott, MSW – Associate Director
