COVID-19 remains a threat to the lives and health of people who are incarcerated in Connecticut prisons and jails. On Saturday, February 5, the New Britain Racial Justice Coalition rallied outside of the Connecticut Department of Corrections (DOC) central office in Wethersfield to call for compassionate releases and transparency and accountability from the DOC.
Gus Marks-Hamilton, the ACLU of Connecticut's campaign manager, delivered the following remarks:
Hello everyone, my name is Gus Marks-Hamilton, I am the campaign manager for the Smart Justice campaign with the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut. At Smart Justice we a have a slogan “People Not Prisons.” So when I say “PEOPLE” you say “NOT PRISONS.” Ready?
“PEOPLE” – “NOT PRISONS”
“PEOPLE” – “NOT PRISONS”
“PEOPLE” – “NOT PRISONS”
Thank you. And thank you to The New Britain Racial Justice Coalition and Alicia for organizing today’s event. Thank you to the folks that read the letters from the inside. And a special thanks to the brave people who are writing those letters from inside.
I spent nearly eight years incarcerated here in Connecticut. I’ve been through lockdowns and shakedowns and loss of visits, loss of commissary, loss of rec. I’ve been through flu seasons where everyone in the block would get sick. I remember when we all had to get rid of our mattresses because there was a MRSA outbreak. I remember when sewage flooded the block and everyone on the bottom floor was evacuated, but on the top tier we had to wait for it to be cleaned up, so we saw and smelled the rotten odor of feces.
I don’t think any of that compares to what people are dealing with right now inside Connecticut’s jails and prisons. I cannot imagine how stressed out and scared I would be to be incarcerated during this COVID pandemic, where people are not just catching the virus and getting sick, but dying. 28 people have passed away from COVID in DOC custody. The stories I’ve heard from people on the inside are frightening, and the fear and concern that their family members and loved ones are carrying every day is unfathomable.
Incarcerated people have been among the most vulnerable people to catching COVID-19 since the pandemic began two years ago. When you don’t have access to personal protective equipment, when you don’t have access to cleaning supplies, when you don’t have the ability to socially distance because you are locked in a prison, when the people running the prison are refusing to wear masks and could be bringing the virus into the prison, you know that your life has been devalued. We have seen how the Department of Corrections and Governor Lamont have not prioritized the lives and safety of incarcerated people during this pandemic.
A year ago, 12 people passed away in about 2 months. Since this past November, over this most recent surge, 7 more people have passed away. The DOC Commissioner is not fighting this virus with everything he can if the people who work for the DOC have the lowest vaccination rate of all state employees, and the highest rate of non-compliance with weekly testing and vaccinations.
It's also worth remembering that because of systemic racism in policing, the courts, parole, and the criminal legal system as a whole, the majority of people incarcerated in Connecticut are Black and Latinx. So every time the state decides not to protect incarcerated people from COVID, it is making a decision to further endanger Black and Latinx lives. The state’s decision to keep jeopardizing incarcerated people’s lives is a racist choice.
We need the General Assembly to step up and take action. The legislature must create effective COVID prevention and treatment in prisons and jails and maximize discretionary releases to prevent more unnecessary infections, outbreaks and deaths. No one locked up was sentenced to die by COVID-19. We should not have to be here demanding that people who are incarcerated have lives and health that matter and have a right to be protected from COVID as much as anyone else. But we are here, and the legislative session begins this Wednesday. I look forward to working with everyone here to support the passage of legislation into law that will save lives and keep people safe. I don’t want to come back here. Thank you, and one more time:
“PEOPLE” – “NOT PRISONS”
“PEOPLE” – “NOT PRISONS”
“PEOPLE” – “NOT PRISONS”
