Contributed photo
Thaddeus and Veronica Lowery with their child.
The state Department of Correction has transferred Fair Havener Thaddeus Lowery from a state prison in Enfield to a New Haven halfway house— two weeks after Lowery’s attorney first sued for his client’s freedom in federal court, and two days after his wife and his lawyer spoke up to the press about the unique dangers faced by Connecticut prisoners during the Covid-19 pandemic.
On Friday, state Assistant Attorney General Steven Strom filed a notice with the U.S. District Court of Connecticut that the state DOC has transferred Lowery from the Willard-Cybulski Correctional Institution in Enfield to the Walter Brooks Halfway House in New Haven.
In response, Lowery’s lawyer, local civil rights attorney Alex Taubes, filed to voluntarily dismiss a petition he had first submitted to federal court on April 17 that alleged that the state had violated Lowery’s Eighth Amendment Constitutional right protecting him from cruel and unusual punishment.
On Wednesday, the Independent ran a story about Lowery, Lowery’s wife Veronica, Taubes, and two other currently incarcerated New Haveners who have provided first-hand and second-hand accounts of life behind bars in Connecticut during the coronavirus pandemic.
Taubes’s petition stated that Lowery had asthma, a bullet wedged in his lung, gastrointestinal issues, and that the state had already approved his transfer to a halfway house for time served before the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. He remained in prison largely because of broader shutdown of the criminal and judicial systems during the crisis.
Lowery, Chaz Gulley, and Robert Miller have made allegations at the core of Taubes’s petition and a pending federal lawsuit filed by the state ACLU — that the state is endangering prisoners by not allowing for adequate social distancing, by not providing adequate soap and hand sanitizer and other cleaning materials, and by not provide adequate medical care to those behind bars.
The state has denied these charges, and successfully won the dismissal of a similar state lawsuit filed by the ACLU.
A DOC representative did not respond to a request for comment by the publication time of this article on the state’s decision to transfer Lowery from prison to a halfway house.
“DOC did the right thing by finally moving Mr. Lowery out of his 8‑man prison cell to a halfway house in New Haven,” Taubes told the Independent by email Friday. “Because his habeas petition concerned his incarceration in prison, the petition is now moot, and we voluntarily dismissed it.
“But many others like Mr. Lowery, including clients I represent, remain incarcerated on non-violent offenses or are being detained pre-trial despite severe medical conditions, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 continues to spread within prison facilities in Connecticut. I will continue to fight for them, and the ACLU’s class action case to force bold action to continue too.”
Now that some courts are ruling that incarceration during this pandemic is "cruel and inhuman" treatment, more inmates should be released.
All lives matter.