Since Connecticut’s new Office of the Correction Ombudsman opened in September, it has received more than 350 complaints from incarcerated individuals in the state’s prison system. Interim leader DeVaughn L. Ward says it has been nearly impossible to resolve the complaints coming in while also working to stand up the office as its sole employee.
In a presentation to the Corrections Advisory Committee — an 11-member board appointed by members of the legislature — last Thursday, Ward laid out the challenges he’s facing.
He said he’s struggled to use the allocated funds to both set up an office and hire staff, while also paying visits to the state’s correctional facilities and addressing the growing number of complaints. Ward said the office desperately needs more funding, calling that the “No. 1 priority.”
“I was deeply concerned that my office was going to become overwhelmed,” he said. So far, he said, he’s only been able to address 60 or 70 of the complaints.
The Correction Ombudsman acts as a watchdog, holding the Department of Corrections to account. The office makes sure that the voices of incarcerated people and their loved ones are heard while monitoring conditions and investigating complaints about the prison system in the state.
The office was originally a part of the Department of Corrections, and it operated for 37 years before shutting down in 2010 as a cost saving measure. State lawmakers passed a bill reviving the office in 2022, but the post had remained vacant until last fall when Ward was named interim leader.
Ward was selected last August after Gov. Ned Lamont’s first pick failed to make it through the legislative nomination process. Lamont has now nominated Ward to the position permanently, a role that carries a two-year term.
The state budget has allocated $400,000 annually to support the Correction Ombudsman’s office. But Ward said that figure isn’t enough to bring about lawmakers’ vision for the office.
Ward said the office would need six districts, each with an individual office administrator and investigator. He told the Corrections Advisory Committee the office also needs two associate Ombuds, an attorney and a medical consultant. He said he hadn’t received approval to hire any staff until this past December. As of last week, that opening still hadn’t been posted, he said.
But after meeting with officials in the state budget office, Ward said he was under the impression that his budget could at least double to $800,000 this year. “I am having conversations with the governor’s office [and] the chair of Appropriations…to let them know they have to make a commitment to funding,” he said.
Tadhg Dooley, co-chair of the advisory committee, called the current budget for the office, “woefully inadequate.”
Leaders from New Jersey’s Correction Ombuds office and justice advocates from New Jersey also joined the advisory committee meeting to offer perspective from a state with a similarly sized prison population and similar goals for the position.
Immediately the contrast was stark.
Terry Schuster, New Jersey’s Corrections Ombudsperson, said he started out in the position in the summer of 2022 with 10 people already on staff. Today, there are 25 people working in the office. Some respond to individual complaints, some work on systemic issues and investigations and others liaise with state lawmakers and advocate on behalf of the prison population, Schuster said.
Last year, New Jersey’s state prisons reported an incarcerated population of around 13,000 individuals. By comparison, roughly 10,500 individuals were incarcerated in Connecticut as of last year. But while New Jersey has 25 people handling complaints in its ombudsman’s office, Connecticut has just one person.
“You’re in a tough spot,” Schuster said, addressing Ward. “Our best staff couldn’t handle 350 [complaints].”
Gale Muhammad, president of Women Who Never Give Up, a New Jersey nonprofit that advocates around criminal justice, said it seemed as though Ward had been “set up to fail.”
Since taking on the role, Ward has received complaints regarding poor health care, bad food, inadequate mental health services and the use of force.
“Being responsive to the concerns of folks who are incarcerated is my job,” Ward said. “I think the conversation is going to continue throughout this legislative session.”