Yesterday, a group of protesters demonstrated across the street from Cheshire Correctional Institute, in solidarity with an inmate-led hunger strike that has now entered its fourth week. The strikers’ primary demand has been DOC’s provision of the five hours of daily out-of-cell time, as mandated by the PROTECT Act.
“There’s a lot of problems inside and I just feel like it’s overwhelming, especially when you have an administration who doesn’t enforce the policies,” said Barbara Fair, a founding member of Stop Solitary CT, which helped draft and advocated for the PROTECT Act. “They’re blatantly disregarding the law, especially around lockdowns. Caging people for so many years and then opening the door is a recipe for disaster.”
Advocates and inmates alike have long accused the DOC of utilizing lockdowns to circumvent the PROTECT Act’s provisions for out-of-cell time. The DOC has denied or attempted to downplay the frequency of these lockdowns, and has claimed that they arise out of legitimate security concerns caused by chronic short-staffing of the department. Fair and other advocates are not convinced.
“It’s obvious to me, that that’s their resistance to the five hours out,” said Fair of the lockdowns. “If they can continue to say there’s not enough staff, then of course that’s their excuse for not letting people out of their cell.”
Fair told Inside Investigator that she is “very interested” in discovering the number and duration of corrections officers who are out on workers’ compensation or family, vacation and medical leave. Just yesterday, a state audit was released finding DOC to have “unnecessarily” provided $834,955 worth of paid leave to nine employees over a three-and-a-half year span.
“Every 2 years an audit is done and each audit is scandalous and yet the madness continues without consequence,” said Fair.
The protest was organized by a group of prison-rights advocates, which includes Nancy Peters, of Brothers and Sisters United in Action, Ivelisse Correa-Brown, of BLM 860, and Bryan “Love” Jordan, President of Guided by Purpose. Correa-Brown said that about 24 people attended the protest, with a third of them being formerly incarcerated individuals themselves, most of whom spent time in Cheshire. She noted that it was the second such protest in two weeks, and that she and other activists intend to schedule more in the weeks to come.
”The lockdowns are intentional — very rarely do they have real under staffing,” said Correa-Brown. “They lock down for Christmas parties, for barbecues on the weekends, so the men will smell the food grilling while they’re locked in their cells. DOC has no accountability when it comes to the attendance system for their correctional officers.”
Andrius Banevicius, DOC’s Public Information Officer, said that the lockdowns “are often dictated by staffing levels. If the level falls below a certain point, then for the safety of the incarcerated population and the staff, the facility is placed on lockdown.”
Correa-Brown said that DOC “has not been a partner” thus far, and noted that if short-staffing is a legitimate issue, there are several methods through which it could be solved.
“They could be hiring more staff, they could be setting up an attendance system for the correctional officers to discourage call outs unless they absolutely need to,” said Correa-Brown. “I know, if I can’t go into work and I’m calling out, you know, a good majority of the time, I’m going to get in trouble at work.”
Banevicius said “the agency is actively working to recruit and retain qualified correctional professionals – ultimately reducing the need for overtime.” He also claimed that 90 new corrections officers finished training this month, and an additional 150 will begin training on Aug. 8.
Peters sent Inside Investigator a list of the strikers’ demands, which includes requests for adequate health care, food and sanitation, crackdowns on drug smuggling and staff abuse, and pay bump for the prison’s work programs. The strike began on July 7th, though the number of strikers varies significantly depending on who you ask.
On July 21st, NBC Connecticut reported that DOC informed them that only two inmates were continuing their strike. On July 28th, Peters, Correa-Brown and Jordan released a statement indicating that seven inmates confirmed to them on July 24th that they were still foregoing food, and Correa-Brown and Peters told Inside Investigator today that strikers have provided the names of a total of 26 inmates now participating. Banevicius said that as of July 29, there are only 15 strikers still participating.
In a Securus message sent to Peters on July 23rd, which she then forwarded to Inside Investigator, striker Cornel Myers said the original strikers were still going strong.
“I’d say pretty much all ten are still on the hunger strike, contrary to the false info that DOC is putting out,” said Myers. “They want it to end and for people not to believe it’s happening, so they are doing everything they can towards those ends.”
On July 9th, Inside Investigator reached out via Securus to Myers and another striker, Victor Jordan, but both said they had not received the messages until weeks later. Myers told Inside Investigator and Peters that DOC “deliberately delayed” his receipt of the message, and Jordan indicated the same.
“I just got your message from the 9th!” replied Jordan on July 23rd. “Go figure. This is typical DOC, trying to control the narrative, and prevent the true one from getting out.”
Both Correa-Brown and Peters told Inside Investigator that they believe the DOC is intentionally delaying communications, and demanded greater transparency. Correa-Brown also said that DOC has been “horrific” at responding to the concerns of the strikers and their advocates alike. On July 26, Correa-Brown, Peters, “Love” Jordan, and other advocates signed off on a letter to DOC Commissioner Angel Quiros, requesting that DOC provide them with weekly updates on the strikers’ health, housing unit and communications status.
“There has been no response,” said Correa-Brown. “I think they’re hoping this just goes away, because this is the second hunger strike in a row, last summer they were also on a hunger strike.”
Correa-Brown and Peters said that while no DOC officials have responded to their requests, Correctional Ombudsman DeVaugh Ward has. Peters forwarded Inside Investigator an email Ward sent to her on the 28th, in which he said his office is “actively monitoring the situation.” Ward assured that all strikers are being monitored by Cheshire’s Health Services Unit, that no strikers were housed in the medical unit as of July 25th, and denied any alleged slowdown of communications.
“Access to communication—including tablets, phones, and mail—has not been restricted for any of the hunger strikers, except for the individual currently in segregation, whose access is limited due to housing status,” said Ward.
In a July 24th email, Ward told Inside Investigator that he has “met directly” with the strikers, and has visited Cheshire three times this month alone. He said that his office has opened an investigation into Cheshire’s lockdowns over the past few months, and confirmed that there were “five days in which lockdown occurred” from the week of June 29-July 6.
“My office remains actively engaged in monitoring conditions and addressing the concerns raised by incarcerated individuals,” said Ward. “I can confirm that I have been in communication with DOC leadership regarding the hunger strike and broader concerns related to PROTECT Act compliance. My office has opened active investigations into some of these matters, and those reviews are ongoing. While I cannot comment on the specifics of those discussions at this time, I can confirm that these conversations are occurring and that my office is engaged with the Department on these issues.”
Correa-Brown said that publicity on the issue of lockdowns, as well as the outreach of advocates to state lawmakers and OPM officials, has already had an impact. Correa-Brown said that inmates told her that last weekend was the first in “a couple months” in which Cheshire’s inmates did not experience a lockdown.
“Once the governor’s staff and lawmakers began making inquiries, all of a sudden, Cheshire CI this past weekend had their first weekend without a lockdown,” said Correa-Brown.
Correa-Brown said that while her and other advocates are concerned for the strikers’ health, and want to ensure they’re being properly monitored, they stand in solidarity with their cause and understand their otherwise limited options for peaceful protest.
“They should not have to do this, and their concerns should be taken much more seriously,” said Correa-Brown. “They can’t protest, they can’t rally — This is the only peaceful form of protest that they have to stand up for their rights, and it’s a shame.”
Banevicius said the DOC “is working to address the grievances of the protesters in a constructive manner while maintaining a safe, secure, and orderly environment.”
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