News & Commentary

To understand what Lamont’s choice to add more businesses to the lists of those that have been open could mean for Connecticut, it’s useful to look at what his actions so far have meant for vulnerable people – the people who the government has left open and exposed to COVID-19 from the start.

Expanding absentee voting for widespread illness in the state is a simple and important part of protecting voting rights.

The numbers don’t reflect an unprecedented response to save incarcerated lives, especially Black and Latinx lives.

Even if Lamont and the DOC continue to ignore the people who they should have been listening to all along, they should pay attention to the numbers, which show that the DOC’s reactionary, backward-looking response to COVID-19 is not working.

Under state law, more than 100 different state government agencies – including the Governor and DOC – could take steps right now to reduce the number of people who are sitting in prisons, where they are at risk during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Smart Justice has been speaking out for weeks about the urgent need for Governor Lamont, members of the Connecticut General Assembly, and other decision makers to act. Watch their calls to action in this powerful video series.

During a packed public hearing, Smart Justice leader Ciara Rosati testified in support of S.B. 403, a bill introduced by the Judiciary Committee that would create a strong Clean Slate law in Connecticut.

Fundamentally, Clean Slate is about providing a light at the end of the tunnel for people who are dealing with the collateral consequences of a record – inability to find housing, employment, education, or even insurance or financial products, based solely on a scarlet letter from their past.

Five Smart Justice leaders and organizers spoke truth to power about the need for Connecticut to pass a bill to prevent discrimination against people solely based on their records of arrest or conviction.