The following is a reaction from ACLU of Connecticut executive director David McGuire to recent incidents at the Carl Robinson Correction Institution in Enfield, which included a protest by incarcerated people, Department of Correction (DOC) response, fight, and Department of Correction decision to transfer people to other prisons:
"The DOC's response to COVID-19 thus far leaves incarcerated people and workers unprotected, and we've heard from many who are scared and frustrated. In addition, the DOC, instead of protecting public health by releasing people, has developed a pandemic response plan that includes counterproductive punitive measures like lockdowns, which exacerbate stress for people who live and work in prisons. It is deeply troubling that the DOC has also been transferring people between prisons during the pandemic, which runs the risk of spreading the virus between facilities and of newly exposing people to the virus. It is also especially disturbing that the DOC is repopulating Northern, an inhumane facility, in an attempt to stifle incarcerated people's protests about their treatment."
