Winfield: Fighting until June 7…and likely after that.
Hartford — A local lawmaker told supporters of bills that would significantly restrict the use of solitary confinement and establish stronger penalties for police officers who use excessive force to be prepared to continue the fight in the next legislative session.
With the days of the legislative session winding down, Sen. Gary Winfield said Wednesday no bill is dead until June 7 when the session ends. But during a rally outside the Capitol building, he also said that if the bills pass, they might not be the strong versions that were introduced at the start of the session, which means advocates have to keep pushing for reform.
Winfield said that the police bill — HB 6663, which is being shepherded by fellow Newhallville legislator State Rep. Robyn Porter — has received pushback from police officers and their unions, who want provisions that would affect an officer’s pay during an active investigation out of the bill. Winfield said those provisions are what give the bill teeth to hold officers accountable for how they use force.
“We’re concerned with public safety in the same way as any community is concerned with public safety,” Winfield said to the more than 50 people gathered to press lawmakers to take up the excessive force and solitary confinement bills. “What we don’t want is public siege. We don’t want police who operate with impunity. We don’t want police who do some things outside of the character of what we think police should, and are able to get away with it — who are able to sit around for two, three, four years while investigations are going on and get paid. We don’t want that.”
Winfield said because of that opposition, there is a chance that HB 6663 could be passed before next Wednesday, but not the version of it that he would want. “If it’s not the bill that I want then we have to keep fighting,” he said. “The bill that I want says that when you take certain actions, when you shoot someone whether they die or not, after 40 business days, the preliminary investigation is completed, there is a determination of whether or not that investigation is going to go forward and if it is going to go forward you don’t get to sit around for two to three years and collect a check.”
The version of HB 6663 that Winfield wants also outlines an investigative procedure into police conduct that results in a wrist hematoma from an officer overtightening handcuffs, a black eye, or a laceration that requires sutures. Winfield wants HB 6663 to require that such incidents receive a preliminary investigation within 120 days.
Activist Holly Tucker said had such a law been in place after she was stopped by police for an alleged traffic violation last September, she might not have ended up with bruised arms and blood clots, which she claims was the result of being dragged from her car and thrown to the ground. She also said it likely would have helped her daughter, who since the incident worries if Tucker isn’t home by 10:20 p.m. Tucker was held in police custody overnight after the traffic stop.
The solitary confinement bill, HB 7302, doesn’t seem to have the same kind of obvious opposition. But it too continues to be stalled in the last days of the legislative session.
“On the solitary confinement bill, I feel like we were all working together and then we weren’t,” Winfield said. “I feel like that a lot in this building.”
He speculated that ultimately someone will use a perceived cost that hasn’t been determined yet as an excuse not to support the bill. He also predicts that some of his colleagues in the legislature will say that they want to help, but will find an excuse not to do so.
“Every time we try to do a bill like this, it’s ‘I would like to help you but,’” he said. “‘I think that’s a good idea, but.’ If you would like to help me then help me.”
Prepared To Keep Fighting
Fair: Still work to be done.
Long-time activists like Barbara Fair was built for this fight. Not only has she spent many years challenging city officials to hold cops accountable for misconduct, she’s been working on the problem of solitary confinement for more than a decade. She said that some people like state Corrections Commissioner Scott Semple understand the need for a criminal justice system that is humanizing, but she said he can’t make changes alone.
“It’s not easy to improve this evil system from the inside when there is so much opposition to that change and not nearly enough support,” she said.
Studies have shown that the use of solitary confinement has detrimental effects on a person’s mental and physical well-being, particularly if they are very young, elderly or have a mental or physical disability.
“Some describe it being buried alive,” Fair said. “There is a lot of work to be done across America to just resemble a semblance of humanity and some of the steps needed to bring change start here with all of us.”
Perry to lawmakers: Will you act?
Beatrice Codianni, who was once incarcerated in Danbury, said that solitary confinement can have a devastating effect on older inmates who often have chronic health conditions and sometimes even mental health problems that are only exacerbated by being isolated from other inmates.
Hope Metcalf, who directs the Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights and co-teaches at the Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at Yale University, said not only is solitary confinement exceptionally cruel, it’s expensive. She said it costs over $100,000 a year to house someone in Northern Correctional Institution, the state’s super-maximum-security prison.
“We also know solitary is a waste [of human life],” Metcalf said. She said there is no evidence that incarcerating someone in a supermax facility has any beneficial effect. In fact, she said all evidence points to “caging people for months, years, even decades makes them worse, not better.”
The Rev. Allie Perry of New Haven, president of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture board, called solitary confinement “spirit killing” and torture, and pointed out that with HB 7302 on the table, Connecticut has joined a number of states grappling with how to end the practice, including Ohio, New York, Maine, Colorado, and Nebraska. She said studies have shown that solitary confinement hurts those who are subjected to it and those who are charged with inflicting it.
“The only question for our legislators is: will you act?” she asked.
Winfield said he does not plan to give up.
“In the next few days we’re going to keep fighting,” he said. “We don’t know what we’re going to come up with but we’re going to have to keep fighting. And that’s OK because we love our community.
“Our community that we talk about at least when we talk about these bills is the whole state of Connecticut whether people recognize it or not,” he added. “But in particular we know that we are talking about some people whose voices don’t get heard. They have voices but they don’t get heard.”
Following is a status report on bills of particular interest to New Haven before the state legislature this session:
The 2017 Agenda
| Bill # | Status | Summary | Sponsors |
|---|---|---|---|
| SB11/ HB5539 | Committee Denied | Would legalize, tax recreational use of marijuana. | Candelaria Dillon Lemar Walker Porter et al |
| SB 17 | Committee Approved | Would make certain undocumented immigrant students (DREAMers) eligible for state college financial aid. | Looney |
| HB 5434 | Committee Approved | Would have CT join with other states to elect the President based on popular, rather than Electoral College, vote. | Winfield, Porter Albis Elliott D’Agostino et al. |
| HB 5458, HB 6058 | Committee Approved | Would establish electronic tolls on state highways. | Genga |
| HB 5575/HB 7126 | Passed Senate | Would regulate companies such as Uber and Lyft. | Scanlon |
| HB 5589 | Passed House | Would expand disclosure requirements for contributions to campaign funds. | Dillon Lemar D’Agostino Elliott et al. |
| HB 5591 | Passed House | Would require equal pay for employees doing comparable work. | Dillon Walker Lemar Albis D’Agostino Elliott et al. |
| HB 5703 | Committee Denied | Would have CT enter into an agreement with other states to limit “poaching” of each other’s businesses. | Lemar |
| HJ 13/HJr 95 | Passed House | Would amend the state constitution to permit early voting. | Lemar |
| HJ 16 | In Commitee | Would amend the state constitution to permit absentee voting for all voters. | Lemar |
| SB 1/HB 6212 | Committee Approved | Would require employers to provide paid family and medical leave for their employees. | Looney |
| SB 2 | Committee Approved | Would make the education funding formula more equitable. | Duff |
| SB 8 | Committee Denied | Would allow municipalities to adopt a 0.5% sales tax. | Looney |
| SB 10/HB 5743 | Passed Senate | Would strengthen hate crime laws. | Winfield |
| SB 13/HB 6208/HB 6456 | Committee Approved | Would increase the minimum wage. | Looney Winfield et al. Albis Candelaria D’Agostino Elliott Lemar Paolillo Porter Walker |
| SB 137 | Committee Denied | Would expand birth-to-three and provide universal pre-school, among other things. | Gerratana |
| SJ 5/HJ 1 | Passed House | Would amend the state constitution to create a “lock-box” for transportation funding. | Duff |
| HB 5588 | Committee Denied | Would limit certain bond allocations. | Dillon Lemar Albis Walker Elliott et al. |
| HB 5912HB 6127 | Committee Denied | Would establish a 1‑cent/ounce tax on sugared beverages. | Lemar Elliott et al. |
| HB 6554 | Committee Denied | Would tax carried interest as ordinary income. | Porter Albis Lemar Elliott Winfield Candelaria Dillon D’Agostino et al. |
| HB 5831 | Committee Denied | Would provide bonding for transitional housing for NH female ex- offenders. | Porter Candelaria Lemar Winfield Looney Paolillo |
| SB 631 | Committee Denied | Would provide bonding to make structural improvements to the Shubert Theatre. | Winfield Looney Walker Porter Lemar Candelaria Paolillo |
| HB 6863 | Committee Denied | Would authorize bonds for renovating the Barbell Club as a youth/ community center. | Canelaria Porter Paolillo Lemar Winfield |
| SB 649 | Committee Approved | Would allow local building officials to impose fines for building w/o a permit. | Looney Winfield Walker Candelaria Lemar Porter Paolillo Et al. |
| SB 590/591 | Committee Denied | Would limit police ccoperation w/Immigration and Customs Enforcement (590); establish an immigrant’s bill of rights | Winfield |
| SB 20 | Committee Denied | Would require affordability to be considered in reviewing proposed health insurance rate hikes. | Looney |
| HB 6352 | Committee Approved | Would establish a deposit system for car tires. | Ritter Gresko McCrory |
| HB 6901 | Committee Denied | Would impose a surtax on large employers that pay an average wage less than $15/hour. | Elliott |
| HB 7278 | Passed Senate | Would convey various parcels to New Haven, among other things. | Gov’t Administration and Elections |
Why not just get rid of the police entirely? That would eliminate all controversy and save a lot of money. We could have a few unarmed referees to decide things like who was wrong in an automobile accident, and to direct traffic. We can also close all the jails. Think of all the money we could save by closing the criminal courts. I would love to try this for a year and then reevaluate based on what happens.