News & Commentary

HARTFORD  – The ACLU of Connecticut joined Governor Dannel Malloy and other dignitaries at Faith Congregational Church on August 2 for the ceremonial signing of nine justice reform bills, including four supported by the ACLU-CT. These ACLU-CT-supported bills included:

When an Enfield police officer was named in 11 excessive force lawsuits, the town tried to keep the lawsuit settlements secret. We took action and won.In 2014, police dashboard camera video footage surfaced of an Enfield police officer beating a man in the head as the man lay handcuffed on the ground. By the time that officer, Matthew Worden, was fired and decertified, he had been the subject of 14 internal affairs investigations by the police department and had been named in 11 excessive force lawsuits alleging that violated people’s rights.By June 2017, the town of Enfield had settled eight of those 11 lawsuits, but it refused to share the details of these settlements, including how much they cost, with the public.When towns shroud lawsuit settlements in secrecy, it doesn’t help to build community trust in open, transparent government. The public deserves to know how much Enfield paid to settle these lawsuits involving a town employee.The ACLU of Connecticut took action by demanding documents from Enfield regarding the settlements for three of the lawsuits: Salas v. Town of Enfield, Avalos v. Town of Enfield, and Trowbridge v. Town of Enfield. When the town refused to turn over that information, the ACLU of Connecticut appealed to the state Freedom of Information (FOI) Commission.In a preliminary decision, FOI Commission hearing officer Lisa Fein Siegel recommended that the full Commission order Enfield to provide the ACLU of Connecticut with all of the information we sought. On June 14, 2017, the full FOI Commission met and issued its final ruling, which fully adopted the hearing officer’s recommendations. Enfield did not have a representative at that hearing; once Enfield receives the FOI Commission’s final ruling in the mail, the town will have 45 days to either appeal the Commission’s decision or, as ordered, turn over documents to the ACLU of Connecticut.Democracy works best in the light. Transparency is critical for people to know what their town governments are doing in their names, and whether those actions meet their expectations.For more background about the lawsuits against Enfield police officer Worden [this link will take you to the Hartford Courant's website]: http://www.courant.com/community/enfield/hc-enfield-foi-hearing-matthew-worden-lawsuit-settlements-0614-20170613-story.html

The ACLU of Connecticut spoke out for justice, equality, and liberty during the 2017 legislative session--and so did our supporters. By the end of the General Assembly's 2017 regular session, ten bills to advance justice, equality, and liberty had passed out of the legislature.

Solitary confinement costs too much, does nothing to rehabilitate prisoners, and can exacerbate or even cause mental illness. In 2017, the ACLU of Connecticut fought to fix solitary confinement in our state.

Civil asset forfeiture allows the government to take and sell someone’s property without ever charging them with a crime. Taking innocent people’s assets is unacceptable and unconstitutional, but it is happening in Connecticut. From 2009 to 2013, there were more than 3,700 civil asset forfeiture cases in our state. In 2017, we successfully advocated for legislation to fix civil asset forfeiture in our state. Under a proposal signed into law by Governor Malloy, the state will only be allowed to confiscate property that was related to a criminal conviction.

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Police agencies in Connecticut routinely make it difficult for members of the public to file complaints of police misconduct, according to this 2017 report by the ACLU of Connecticut, a follow-up to our 2012 report on the same topic.Drawn from online research and telephone surveys, “Earning Trust: Addressing Police Misconduct Complaints in Connecticut,” shows that many police agencies in the state fail to clearly post their complaint policies and forms online, refuse to accept anonymous complaints, and include threats of prosecution in their complaint intake protocols. In some cases, these obstacles violate state law and statewide police policy. Together, these barriers to transparency can undermine public trust in law enforcement.

On Wednesday, January 4, state legislators returned to Hartford to begin a new legislative session of the Connecticut General Assembly. Here are five areas in which the ACLU of Connecticut will be encouraging the legislature to strengthen freedom, equality, and justice in 2017:

The American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut is saddened to learn of the passing of William “Bill” Olds, a staunch defender of civil liberties and the organization’s first full-time executive director, who died on Friday, September 30. Bill took the helm of the ACLU-CT, then known as the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union, in 1970, and his steady hand guided the group for twenty-five years, until his retirement in 1995.The Hartford Courant once dubbed Bill, a Bloomfield resident, “Mr. Civil Liberties,” and he more than earned the title. Bill was a friend to the marginalized, an ally to the vulnerable, and a champion of civil liberties for all. Under his direction, the ACLU-CT overturned Connecticut’s ban on the use of state funds to provide abortion care for low-income women, cleared the way for the first woman firefighter in New Haven, secured religious observance rights for inmates at the Danbury Federal Correctional Institution, fought against forced sterilization of children with mental disabilities, and sought equality in education. With clarity and conviction, he eloquently defended the rights to peaceful assembly and free speech, including for groups with which he strongly disagreed. In Bill, freedom found a champion of consistent principles and unwavering certitude. His devotion to equality and justice were evident to all who knew him, and he gracefully shouldered his mantle as a constant civil liberties ambassador.The entire ACLU-CT family is grateful beyond measure to Bill and his entire family for his years of shepherding civil liberties in the Constitution State. We extend our heartfelt sympathies to his wife, Astrida, and their daughters.