News & Commentary

As we close the book on 2021, we’re ready to look ahead to 2022. Here (in no particular order) is what the ACLU of Connecticut is looking toward in court, in communities, and during the legislative session.

The ACLU of Connecticut is proud to welcome welcome Amber Vlangas as our donor relations officer.

As a firm believer in advocating for human rights, Jess Zaccagnino has driven her fellow students to the polls as an undergraduate, published research about authoritarianism as a law student, and pursued equity legislation at the state capitol here in Hartford.   Jess recently joined the ACLU of Connecticut as our new policy counsel. In her role, Jess will promote justice, liberty, and equity through legislative policy research, analysis, drafting, and advocacy. She’ll be working with the rest of the ACLU-CT team to execute our legislative agendas, engage with administrative agencies and local government bodies, and to act in solidarity with our fellow advocacy organizations to advance shared goals. 

"Organizing is a critical vehicle to ensuring that directly impacted people are centered in all parts of policymaking."

Closure is just the first, minimum step. Any time Connecticut closes a prison, the state must also do these three things.

We need a robust Inspector General pursuing police accountability, and the challenges facing this role make clear that local and statewide elected officials also need to do more.

Here's what the four finalists had to say about police accountability and racial justice.

Justice would be people never being hurt or killed by police in the first place, ending systemic racism, and reallocating policing budgets to instead go to things that create real public safety. But police accountability is also necessary, and the Inspector General must be prepared to seek it.

A knee-jerk reaction to leverage incarceration to solve this problem is like using a sledgehammer to crack an egg.