By
TRAN CHAU/The Connecticut Mirror
The Connecticut Department of Correction has agreed to end its longtime practice of in-cell restraints under a settlement announced Thursday, following years of criticism over the treatment of incarcerated people with mental illness in Connecticut. The settlement, reached with the American Civil Liberties Union and Disability Rights Connecticut, resolves a yearslong case challenging the department’s use of in-cell restraints on incarcerated people with mental illness. The agreement requires DOC to revise its policy, provide staff training on full-stationary restraints and report their use to the ACLU.“This settlement represents an important step toward ensuring that Connecticut’s prisons treat people with mental illness with the dignity and care they deserve,” Jaclyn Blickley, an attorney with the ACLU of Connecticut, said in a statement. “The state cannot subject people with mental illness to abuse, and we will continue to hold the Connecticut Department of Correction to the commitments they have made to changing their practices.”
According to an ACLU press release, in-cell restraints — which the ACLU refers to as in-cell shackling — involve “chaining a prisoner’s legs and wrists, binding their hands to their feet with a tether chain, and then leaving them locked in their cell for hours or even days.” Advocates have long argued the practice can worsen symptoms of mental illness and increase the risk of self-harm.Kasey Considine, legal director of Disability Rights Connecticut, or DRCT, called the policy change “an important step toward protecting incarcerated people with mental health disabilities from unnecessary and harmful restraint.”
