Gov. Malloy toured the Hartford Correctional Center for the first time Thursday.
Gov. Dannel Malloy told Connecticut inmates about a new state law that attempts to give nonviolent criminals more opportunities to get drug treatment and successfully reintegrate back into society.
The Democrat toured the Hartford Correctional Center for the first time Thursday. The trip coincided with President Barack Obama's visit to a federal prison.
The Hartford jail houses just under 1,000 inmates, the majority un-sentenced men awaiting trial. Malloy met with 12 of them in the center's school, where he discussed his new Second Chance Society law. Among other things, the law reclassifies drug possession as a misdemeanor.
Malloy told inmates he wants to give them "the best shot at staying out of" prison. He said they're "pretty expensive," costing the state about $120 a night.
As well as reclassifying drug possession as a misdemeanor (which has a maximum of one year in jail), the Second Chance Society Law expedites parole and establishes an expedited pardon process for non-violent offenders,
Speaking on WNPR’s Where We Live, Don Sawyer, assistant professor of sociology at Quinnipiac University, said the law could redefine urban stereotypes.
Sawyer said hyper-policing of urban neighbors in "open air drug markets" results in an excess of non-violent drug crime arrests. With a mandatory minimum, judges cannot take an offender's non-violent character into consideration before sending him or her to prison -- thus, people who often go to prison aren’t always selling a lot of drugs.
This report contains information from the Associated Press.
