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Ombuds reports on lockdowns, heat, hunger strike and video release; advocates press for transparency
Summary
The state correctional ombuds described frequent facility lockdowns, visits to 14 institutions and plans for public reports on heat mitigation; advocates and committee members called for public release of footage in a 2018 in-custody death and broader transparency about living conditions.
Devon Ward, Connecticut’s correctional ombuds, told the advisory committee he has conducted 14 facility visits since June and is preparing several reports on prison conditions, including a heat-mitigation report he expects to release within weeks.
Ward said he has met twice with people at Cheshire Correctional Institution who are on a hunger strike and described their chief complaint as frequent lockdowns. "Their chief concern is the number of lockdowns, at Cheshire," Ward said, adding that early-July data showed Cheshire on modified or lockdown status for roughly five of seven days in one interval. He said similar lockdown-related complaints come from other facilities, including York and McDougall.
Ward said he is auditing compliance with the Protect Act’s out-of-cell requirements because he received reports that facilities sometimes do not provide statutorily required out-of-cell time when they are in certain modified statuses. Ward noted that the Protect Act includes provisions allowing limitations on out-of-cell time during a lockdown. He said that distinction complicates public understanding and that auditing compliance is part of his planned work.
Ward reported inspections that addressed kitchen cleanliness concerns at Cheshire and said an unannounced inspection at 3 a.m. did not find evidence of rodents, though detainees have reported rodent activity. He described lack of programming for longer-stay people and repeated lockdowns as recurring concerns.
On technology and searches, Ward said procurement for body scanners is complete and DOC planned implementation and staff training with an anticipated roll-out in October 2025 at facilities including Manson and the women’s facility in York. Ward said the scanners "will greatly reduce the need for strip searches and cavity searches." He also said his office will do town halls for incarcerated people after the case-management system is operational and two clerical hires are onboarded.
On transparency in deaths in custody, Ward testified in court and published an op-ed supporting release of the video of the 2018 death of Jay Allen Jones, which the medical examiner ruled a homicide. Ward said DOC and the attorney general previously opposed release but, after a hearing, DOC told the court it would consider controlled, limited viewing at an AG or DOC office. Ward said, "I don't think that is a...good solution," arguing full public release better serves public disclosure reasons.
Advocates attending the meeting urged wider public dissemination of the ombuds’s findings. Public commenter Barbara Fair said, "We're not accepting your little piecemeal. We wanna see what happened to Jay Allen the day he died inside of that cell in Gardner," and called for Ward’s inspection findings and pictures to be publicized.
Committee members called for use of media and public reports to pressure DOC and stressed the health consequences of heat in facilities. Ward said he has photographs and a draft heat-mitigation report (roughly 3,000 words) he hopes to issue and will send findings to DOC for comment before public release, as required by statute.
Ending: Committee members and advocates agreed the ombuds’s facility work, public reporting and use of media advocacy are complementary tools; the committee encouraged rapid release of statutorily required findings and greater transparency while preserving the ombuds’s duty to follow notice-and-comment steps required by law.
