CT’s prison population the lowest in 32 years
Connecticut’s prison population is the lowest it has been in the last 32 years.
Since March 1, 2020, the total population of Connecticut’s prisons and jails has dropped 3,326 to 9,083 , according to Mike Lawlor, a professor of criminal justice at the University of New Haven and former Gov. Dannel Malloy’s criminal justice advisor.
That’s down 54 percent from the peak in 2008, when there were 10,801 people incarcerated in Connecticut.
“Our principal focus was identifying who really needs to be incarcerated, for example, who's a dangerous person, a predatory- type person, as opposed to someone who is dealing with a host of other issues like mental illness or substance abuse or homelessness,” Lawlor said in an interview earlier this year. “In particular, among the younger people who have been victims of chronic trauma growing up.”
Crime reduction and, by extension a reduction in the state’s prison population, was Lawlor’s focus when he worked for Malloy.
“What's very clear, especially now, in retrospect, is if you can address those things effectively, on the very front end, you end up with a lot less crime, a lot fewer people being arrested, and a much smaller prison population,” he said.
The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated that process. The Department of Corrections has issued an increasing number of “discretionary releases” for prisoners near the end of their sentences, as the Connecticut Mirror reported.