‘This stinks of retaliation’ — Former death row inmate files suit

In a handwritten complaint, former death row inmate Richard Reynolds is claiming the state Department of Correction is retaliating against him for winning a federal lawsuit that changed the living conditions of inmates who were being held in isolation under “special circumstances.”

In two separate state lawsuits, Reynolds contends that MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution Warden Kristine Barone and the DOC confiscated about $2,300 of his possessions he claims were allowed at the state’s “supermax” prison Northern Correctional Institution, which closed in June.

The DOC claims the items were not purchased at the prison commissary so they are considered unauthorized, according to documents filed with the lawsuits.

But Reynolds, who was originally sentenced to death and is now serving a life sentence for the 1992 killing of a Waterbury police officer, said he was allowed to purchase the merchandise outside of the prison’s commissary and keep items under an agreement with the former warden of Northern CI.

Gov. Ned Lamont announced in February that the state would close Northern CI, the state’s super maximum prison. By that point, there were less than 100 inmates housed at the facility, including those being held in “special circumstances.”

In 2012, the legislature repealed the death penalty prospectively, leaving Reynolds and 10 other men on death row under a new classification if their sentences were transferred to life without parole.

To get the death penalty repealed, legislators agreed that the men on death row would be housed under “special circumstances,” which amounted to the same harsh conditions and isolation that they were incarcerated under while awaiting the death penalty even if their sentences were changed to life imprisonment without parole, according to a March decision issued by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

Reynolds challenged the “special circumstances” designation in federal court in 2016, claiming two other inmates who were on death row had been moved to MacDougall-Walker CI to join the general population. Under the “special circumstances” designation, Reynolds was allowed two hours of recreation time each day and had to change cells every 90 days. He was also subject to two cell searches a week, spent the bulk of his day in isolation in a one-man cell and couldn’t have physical contact with visitors, federal documents stated.

A U.S. District Court judge sided with Reynolds, calling the terms of his incarceration unconstitutional. The DOC and state officials appealed the decision, but lost a second time in March, court records show. The state decided to drop any further appeals, paving the way for Reynolds and everyone else left in the “special circumstances” status at Northern CI to be transferred to the general population.

Reynolds is claiming in the lawsuits filed in September and October against Barone and DOC Commissioner Angel Quiros that the agency is now retaliating against him by keeping his possessions.

“Years later, I’m moved from the level 5 supermax with my property to MacDougall’s (Correctional Institution) level 4 due to my winning my lawsuit against the DOC, which led to Northern’s closing and all of (the inmates in) special circumstances leaving as well and I’m being told my property is unauthorized and that they didn’t come from the commissary,” Reynolds said in the handwritten lawsuit he filed against Barone. “To lose my property again is troubling, stressful and wrong. This stinks of retaliation.”

The Office of the Attorney General, which is representing Barone and Quiros, declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.

By 2010, Reynolds discovered several of his items, including dozens of CDs, had disappeared from storage while he was housed at Northern CI as a death row inmate, according to the lawsuit.

Reynolds went through the proper channels to get the case investigated, he said in the lawsuit. But Reynolds said in the lawsuit that it wasn’t until Deputy Warden William Mulligan, who later became warden of the prison, stepped in and confirmed that his items had either been stolen or discarded.

The 2021 lawsuits claim that Reynolds and Mulligan, who is now a DOC administrator, came to an agreement that he could re-purchase the missing items outside of the commissary with his own funds and money from his family, court documents stated. He also was allowed to purchase other items, including a television, video gaming boxes, video games and Air Jordan sneakers under the agreement, court documents stated.

The lawsuit gives no reason why Reynolds would choose an outside vendor to purchase the items. However, DOC officials confirmed that items purchased through the prison commissary can be marked up by as much as 30 percent.

The lawsuit provides several documents showing that Mulligan had signed off in 2015 and 2016 on the property, which was kept in storage at Northern. There is also a March 25 document listing the items and noting they are “unauthorized.”

The property was moved to MacDougall-Walker CI along with Reynolds in late March. But since then he has not been allowed to possess the items, he said in the new lawsuits.

Reynolds has asked for an injunction to prevent the DOC from destroying or discarding his property while the lawsuits are pending.

“The petitioner asks the court to order the defendant to stop their retaliation against him for previous lawsuits and return all of his electronics, footwear, clothing he had at Northern, that was clearly authorized,” Reynolds said in the lawsuit.

A Superior Court Judge will hold a virtual hearing on the case on Feb. 2.