Join ACLU Smart Justice Connecticut at the “Let Us Work, Let Us Live” rally to demand dignity, opportunity, and occupations -- not incarceration.

We all want Connecticut families and communities to thrive. Connecticut faces big decisions about how to spend its limited resources. Our state should be investing in programs that build people up, not further harming people through incarceration. Investment in opportunity, not incarceration, is how we set people up for success and improve safety.

Connecticut must remove barriers to employment for formerly incarcerated people and invest in opportunity and occupations, not hurting people through incarceration.

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Connecticut spends more on hurting people through incarceration than it does on its public health department, DMV, or anti-discrimination agency. Most of the hundreds of millions of dollars that Connecticut spends on incarcerating people do not go toward programs to rehabilitate people.

Nationwide, nearly 600,000 people return home from prison every year. Yet people reentering society face nearly 50,000 national, state, and local barriers to necessities like the chance to apply for jobs and housing, earn a license in a profession, or earn an education. These barriers hurt people and contribute to recidivism. The unemployment rate among formerly incarcerated people in the U.S. is 27%, higher than the national unemployment rate during the Great Depression. That jeopardizes individuals, families, and whole communities – at least 44,000 children in Connecticut have a parent who was incarcerated at some point.

We all pay the human and financial costs of incarceration in our state. If you pay taxes in Connecticut, you’re paying the financial costs of incarcerating too many people. If you are formerly incarcerated or know someone who is, you’re likely paying the human and financial costs of incarceration.