Gov. Malloy is dedicated to criminal justice reform
D on’t be surprised to see Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, after he leaves office at the end of 2018, to play a national role in the growing movement to refocus the criminal justice system on violent criminals, while providing greater opportunities for those guilty of lesser and nonviolent crimes the chance to reform and become participating members of society.
If that’s the case, also expect his wife, Cathy Malloy, to serve as a partner in that effort.
Since his election in 2010, Malloy has turned Connecticut into a test case for criminal justice reform. His administration has opened five “Reintegration Centers” in the state, moving inmates to these prison-based centers as they near their release times. The intent is to prepare the departing inmates for life on the outside and think about potential pitfalls in advance.
The first, the Cybulski Reintegration Center in Enfield, opened in April 2015. Return-to-custody rates for inmates leaving the system via that integration center have been 21 percent, compared to a 55 percent return to custody rate for the general population, according to the administration.
Since then the state has opened four more Reintegration Centers, including one focused on incarcerated veterans and another on young adult inmates age 25 and under.
A few weeks ago, the administration announced the opening of an American Job Center at York Correctional Institution in Niantic, a women’s prison, using a U.S. Department of Labor grant. The Department of Correction opened its first job center at the New Haven Correctional Center for men in December 2015.
These job centers also focus on inmates nearing the end of their sentences, providing tutoring on organizing job searches, preparing resumes and developing interview techniques. Also offered is short-term certification training in several fields. DOC Commissioner Scott Semple said inmates who participate in such programs nationally show a roughly 20 percent reduced chance of returning to prison.
The job and reintegration initiatives are just one of several reforms successful pushed by Malloy. Others include repealing mandatory sentencing for drug-possession crimes, thus keeping out of prison people better off in treatment programs. Possession of a small amount of marijuana is now an infraction, not a crime.
This year the legislature eased the standards for imposing bail on people who may not be able to afford to pay when they face misdemeanor charges, giving judges more latitude to release individuals without bail. Forcing young people charged with relatively minor offenses into jail because their families cannot afford bail is probably more likely to lead to their descent into further criminality than their reform.
On June 14 and 15 the governor and Mrs. Malloy hosted the “Reimagining Justice” conference in Hartford. The movement to reconsider the mass incarceration approach — with its mandatory sentences and “three strikes” provisions — has generated support on the left and right.
The left may approach it more from a social justice perspective, the right from the perspective that prisons are expensive and unproductive, but they reach the same conclusion that locking up a large segment of the population is not a good strategy. The U.S. has the highest per-capita incarceration rate in the world, with 700 out of every 100,000 people imprisoned.
As evidence of this bipartisan support for change, the Hartford conference featured among its corporate sponsors the Koch Foundation, a creation of the strongly conservative Koch brothers. Meanwhile, the keynote speaker was Valerie Jarrett, senior adviser to President Obama.
Connecticut’s prison population has
been dropping, from nearly 20,000 before Malloy took office to 14,410 as of June 6. The administration has closed three prisons and four prison annexes, including the Radgowski Annex Building at the Corrigan-Radgowski Correctional Center in Montville. The administration places the annual savings at $42.6 million.
Yet it is hard to find a political upside to arguing for a “Second Chance Society,” as Malloy has labeled his reform efforts. Being tough on criminals is still more likely to strike an emotional chord with voters.
And for every eight ex-inmates who might take advantage of their second, third or fourth chances, there will be the two unreformed criminals who, despite going through such a program, will commit more crimes, sometimes atrocious ones. And they’re the ones who will get the headlines and be featured on the nightly crime report that accounts for local TV news.
But if Malloy takes up the cause in his post-governor life, he won’t have to worry about poll numbers. Meanwhile Connecticut’s first lady, who urged her husband to host the conference, told the Connecticut Mirror she feels a passion for criminal justice reform.
It’s been a tough go for the governor, and I suspect his wife, but on this issue they’re getting it right, the polls be damned.