Clinicians, unions and reentry groups urge $37 million boost for DOC health services

Good evening. Dozens of Department of Correction clinicians, union representatives and reentry providers told the Appropriations Committee that chronic understaffing, long wait lists and aging equipment are compromising care for people incarcerated in Connecticut and pressed lawmakers to add money to the governor’s biennial budget proposal.

The most specific request came from Becky Simonson of SEIU District 1199, who urged “an increase of $37,000,000 for the DOC inmate medical and mental health services” to address what she described as “a staffing crisis” that leaves many sick people waiting months for care. Simonson told the committee the department currently shows roughly 456 health‑care vacancies and that a DOC staffing plan submitted under Public Act 2021‑33 called for 284 additional health positions.

Those numbers were echoed and amplified by clinicians on the front lines. “Incarcerated individuals deserve access to full health care,” said Dr. Gerald Valletta, principal physician at Garner Correctional Institution, describing a patient population with high rates of untreated chronic illness, substance use disorders and severe mental‑health needs. Dr. Peter Jamieson, an optometrist who serves multiple DOC facilities, said three eye doctors cannot adequately care for “over 11,000 inmates,” and that some patients have waited a year or longer for specialty appointments.

Why it matters: Witnesses said the problem is not a shortfall of goodwill but of capacity. Several speakers described how delays turn treatable problems into emergencies, increase use of outside emergency rooms and carry downstream costs for the state. Clinicians and union leaders said better…