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Criminal justice
reform proposed in Connecticut
(February
2008 Issue)
By Nan Shnitzler
Comprehensive criminal justice reform is on the table in Connecticut
in the wake of failures that led to a violent home invasion this
past July. Two paroled burglars, with histories of drug abuse, murdered
the wife and two daughters of a Cheshire physician, William Petit.
Proposals put forward by the legislative Judiciary Committee and
Gov. Jodi Rell would toughen penalties for home invasions, career
criminals and violent offenders; make the part-time parole board
full-time, require criminal justice credentials for members and
add a staff psychologist; and broaden victims' rights. A new computer
system would address communications gaps among public safety, corrections
and the judicial branch. There might also be a new prison.
Beyond revising the criminal code, funding is being considered
for programs to support ex-offenders and intercept troubled residents
before they tangle with the system. Community-based treatment programs,
re-entry programs, supportive housing and jobs are urgently needed,
the governor and proponents say.
"There is an effort to establish a lot more diversionary options,
especially for offenders with mental illness, for funding more psychiatric
beds and funding more treatment options," says Rep. Michael P. Lawlor,
(D-East Haven) co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee. "We're trying
to expand the community-based mental health options in the hope
that police would be trained to bring individuals to programs as
opposed to court or jail."
Over the last 10 to 15 years, a lot more persons with mental illness
have ended up in the Connecticut prison system.
"For the most part, we're talking about the homeless, HIV positive,
substance abusers. They all end up dumped in the prison system because
the prison system can't say no. It's a much more expensive way of
dealing with that population, and it's not very effective," Lawlor
says.
Each year, approximately 30,000 offenders flow in and out of the
corrections system. Of nearly 20,000 who remain as inmates, about
15 percent have serious mental illness. The courts say that those
not dangerous or violent could be safely supervised in the community;
they just need the programs to go to, Lawlor says. More programs
mean fewer inmates, and perhaps a new prison won't be needed.
"We're beyond the philosophical debate. It's a budgetary decision,"
Lawlor says.
At public hearings in November, Catherine Osten, a department of
corrections (DOC) lieutenant with 18 years of service, told the
Judiciary Committee, "I believe the DOC is ill-equipped to handle
the needs of our growing prison population."
She proposes a "holistic" approach that includes providing more
staff and training within the department plus developing non-prison
settings for qualified inmates.
While acknowledging that legislation creating a professional-level
mental-health training program was passed in July, Osten says that
training is urgently needed for all corrections officials.
Due to state hospital closings, most of the 4,500 inmates diagnosed
with mental illness are scattered throughout the general prison
population in facilities all over Connecticut, she says. Many of
the facilities do without 24-hour medical care or professional mental
health support, which leaves correctional staff the responsibility
of handling medical and mental health care issues for which they
have little or no training.
"As the inmate population has risen, a greater investment of resources
into effective mental health services training for DOC professionals
is necessary," Osten says.
At the same time, a careful assessment of the incarcerated mentally
ill is needed to determine which could be better served in more
cost-effective settings, such as supportive housing. The savings
at DOC could pay for the programs, Osten says.
Regarding the parole board, Lawlor says a forensic psychologist
could have made a difference in the Cheshire case. On the surface,
the younger offender appeared to be a model inmate, but the parole
board had no information on his history of being sexually abused
in an adoptive home where his parents saw taking antidepressants
as a spiritual failure.
"If the parole board had had the information and someone trained
to recognize red flags, I'm not saying he never would have been
paroled, but they might have managed him differently," Lawlor says.
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