State Says Prison Population Is Declining As Spread Of Coronavirus Grows
The coronavirus has reached Connecticut’s prisons amid ongoing calls for reducing the prison population to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
As of Monday morning, 30 Department of Correction staff and 21 inmates had tested positive for the coronavirus, according to DOC Commissioner Rollin Cook.
Cook said the prison population has dropped below 12,000 for the first time 25 years, but he didn’t characterize the DOC’s efforts as a mass release. “However, the early-focused attention on releases is evident,” he said.
Since March 1 -- the date Cook called “the onset of COVID-19” -- the state’s overall prison population count has dropped by more than 700.
But for some, that’s not enough. Protesters in cars (pictured above) lined up outside Gov. Ned Lamont’s Hartford residence to criticize the state’s management of the virus in its prisons.
The DOC said it is targeting for release older offenders and others considered high risk for medical reasons, noting that all discretionary releases include placing people in halfway houses or returning them to their homes with a sponsor under the supervision of an agency parole officer. MORE »
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