Connecticut interim ombudsman urges larger budget, cites 350-case backlog and legislative priorities

Devon Ward, the interim ombudsman for the Connecticut Office of the Ombudsman, told the advisory committee on Feb. 18 that the office’s website and complaint intake form are live at ct.gov and that a state-approved job posting for an office assistant should publish within “the next week or 2.”

Ward said he has requested a larger appropriation for the office after the governor’s proposed budget kept the office at the current $400,000. “The governor’s recommended budget . . . flat funds the office at $400,000, which as we all know is kind of unacceptably low,” Tygh Dooley, one of the committee co-chairs, told the meeting while introducing the budget discussion. Ward said he initially sought “somewhere north of a million dollars” but, after talks with appropriations leaders, judged a request for about $800,000 more politically realistic.

Ward described how an $800,000 appropriation would be used if approved: hiring two office assistants, two associate ombuds, two investigators, one staff attorney and one medical consultant, and buying a file-management system to help triage incoming complaints. He warned the current personnel-service-only structure in the biennial budget constrains what can be spent on non-personnel items before a revised budget takes effect in July.

The interim ombudsman raised specific legislative priorities and Department of Correction (DOC) budget items to watch. He urged opposition to the governor’s proposed elimination of free messaging for people who are incarcerated and pointed to a $5 million proposed increase for health services aimed at 44 positions; he said the proposal likely underestimates future medical demand, noting the department anticipated 16,000 sick-call requests for fiscal 2024–25 but actually received about 25,000.

Ward also flagged a planned third-party utilization review contract with a vendor he called “Nafcare,” which he said already has a contract with DOC and that prison health care unions (1199) have criticized for denying outside consultations without adequate explanation. He said he and union representatives are watching that line in the governor’s budget closely.

On legislation, Ward said he has supported bills on collateral-housing disclosures and on limiting strip searches (identified in the meeting as HB 5,445) and said he is following SB 1309, “an act concerning fines for disciplinary actions,” which he strongly opposes. He also described drafting language to give the ombuds office subpoena authority and to add a pathway for the office to certify credible claims so individuals could proceed directly to suit rather than waiting years in the claims-commissioner queue. "It does add in the subpoena power back to the office," Ward said, and he described a separate provision to require correctional staff who witness excessive force to report it to the warden, and then for the warden to notify the state police to ensure independent investigation.

Ward told the committee the office has received “almost 350 complaints” since launching and that he has been able to resolve roughly 60 to 70 of them. He said many complaints arrive via multiple channels and that the office’s current intake and tracking capacity is limited: “There are stacks of letters in my office that I have not been able to even open or get to.” He said he is considering “maybe putting a pause or suspending taking on new complaints” until the office has greater staffing and a case-management system.

Representatives from New Jersey’s ombuds office joined the call to describe their structure as a model. "When I started, I had 10 staff members already. We now I now have 25 staff members," said the New Jersey representative, who described three divisions in that office: an individual-complaints team, a systemic-issues/inspections team and a smaller legislative/public-engagement team. New Jersey staff described maintaining on-site assignments that let investigators develop facility relationships and run inspections and said their office produces inspection tools and aggregate data to identify systemic problems.

Committee members and advocates urged Ward to set expectations publicly for people who have already sent complaints and to use the DOC’s tablet and notice systems to post an introductory message about the office, its limited capacity now, and a timeline for expanding intake. Several speakers emphasized outreach to family members and community advocates as a critical pathway to build trust and to help press for budget increases. Barbara Fair, a long-time prisoners’-family advocate who organizes community meetings, told the committee: "I've been doing this 24 years. . . . Families are impacted almost just as much, and nobody really understands that."

The meeting produced no formal vote. Committee members asked Ward to return with a specific budget request breakdown to support outreach to appropriations leaders and to develop short-term triage protocols for high-priority cases (for example, reported assaults or other immediate-safety concerns) while the office builds capacity.

Ward said his nomination to the permanent ombudsman post has been forwarded to the governor’s executive nominations committee and that he expects hearings and working-group invitations from appropriations leaders. He asked the advisory committee for guidance on prioritization and communication to the incarcerated population while the office remains understaffed.