HARTFORD – The following is a reaction from Sandy Lomonico, criminal justice organizer for the ACLU of Connecticut, regarding Independent gubernatorial candidate Oz Griebel’s publication of a criminal justice reform platform:
“This summer and fall, led by people who have been directly impacted by the justice system, Smart Justice has advocated for every candidate for governor to support policies to end mass incarceration. Connecticut will be a safer, stronger, fairer place when our state adopts smarter justice policies to support people and opportunity, not incarceration. Today, Oz Griebel took a step toward embracing criminal justice reform, and we hope he and every candidate for governor will do even more to end mass incarceration. Every candidate for governor still has the opportunity to speak loudly and forcefully against mass incarceration and to propose policies to reduce imprisonment in our state. Smart Justice looks forward to working with whoever becomes governor to champion policies to end mass incarceration and eliminate racial disparities in the justice system.”
This week, more than 30 organizations and individual leaders signed a letter asking Oz Griebel, Ned Lamont, and Bob Stefanowksi to publish policy proposals to end mass incarceration and eliminate racial disparities in the justice system.
Griebel and Lamont have since announced their proposals for criminal justice reform.
Since July, the ACLU of Connecticut’s Smart Justice campaign has been at every gubernatorial debate, traveled to every gubernatorial candidate’s campaign office, and called and emailed every gubernatorial candidate asking them to embrace smarter justice policy proposals. Statewide Smart Justice polling released in September shows the majority of Connecticut voters believe it is important to reduce incarceration in the state. Neither the ACLU of Connecticut nor its Smart Justice campaign endorse or oppose candidates for elected office.
The ACLU of Connecticut’s Smart Justice campaign is an initiative dedicated to reducing the state’s prison and jail population by 50 percent and eliminating racial disparities in the justice system. ACLU Smart Justice Connecticut is led by formerly incarcerated people, because the campaign is grounded in the knowledge that the people closest to the problem of mass incarceration are closest to the solution.
For a copy of the sign-on letters sent to Griebel, Lamont, and Stefanowski: https://www.acluct.org/en/press-releases/smart-justice-reaction-lamont-criminal-justice-platform
