S.B. 448, An Act Concerning the Delivery of Health Care and Mental Health Care Services to Inmates of Correctional Institutions

Connecticut is the only state where the DOC oversees and operates its own system. DOC’s abject failure to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in prisons further exposed the department’s general inability to provide quality medical care to people incarcerated in Connecticut’s prisons. Access to healthcare for incarcerated people is a constitutional right under the Eighth Amendment, extended to the states by the Fourteenth Amendment. But the quality of care for incarcerated individuals in Connecticut has been abysmal, contributing to poor health outcomes for incarcerated individuals and returning citizens. Connecticut has paid out millions of dollars in lawsuits stemming from medical negligence and malpractice with the DOC. At the same time, DOC has failed to maintain an adequate number of medical staff to ensure that people get quality, individualized care. In March 2019, the DOC reported a ratio of one nurse on staff for every 43 prisoners and one doctor on staff for every 579 prisoners according to the Office of Fiscal Analysis. Senate Bill 448 represents a beginning step towards providing improved health care for incarcerated people, but the bill can be further strengthened in a number of ways. First, the bill can improve accountability by establishing a commission to oversee DOC health care processes and to review health and morbidity reports, comprised of a mixed group of stakeholders with a vested interest that includes justice-impacted people. Second, the bill should require fair ratios for healthcare workers, including dentists, physicians, and licensed clinical staff. Third, the bill should ensure that isolated confinement is not used as a treatment for chronic disease management, epidemic management, and mental health management. Fourth, opioid and alcohol withdrawal must be included in Section 4(b)’s requirement for withdrawal monitoring.

The ACLU-CT strongly supports measures that improve access to quality health care for people incarcerated in Connecticut’s prisons. Given the DOC’s failure to provide adequate care, both during and before the pandemic, Senate Bill 448 is vital in this effort. As such, the ACLU-CT urges this Committee to support Senate Bill 448 and consider our additional recommendations to improve outcomes for incarcerated individuals, DOC health care workers, and returning citizens.