Ashad Hajela
Former StaffAshad Hajela was the Tow Fellow for Race, Youth and Justice as part of The Accountability Project at Connecticut Public, the newsroom’s investigative reporting initiative.
He was previously a Report for America corps member at Spotlight PA State College, where he wrote about rural affairs. Prior to that, he covered public safety at The News & Observer in Raleigh, NC.
Hajela was a Stabile Fellow at Columbia Journalism School and attended New York University.
-
Lawyer DeVaughn Ward says health care access will be one of his top priorities in his new role as the interim ombudsman for the state corrections system. -
Court documents show that parts of the Q buildings at Osborn Correctional Institution in Somers were found to have elevated levels of polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs. -
Members of the state's Juvenile Justice Policy and Oversight Committee are looking at how to provide more equitable access diversionary programs. -
A workgroup of the state's Juvenile Justice and Policy Oversight Committee is studying access to diversionary programs for youth. -
A water main break cut off water at the Osborn, Robinson and Cybulski correctional facilities in Enfield and Somers, according to prison officials. -
The ombuds position has remained vacant due in part to a disagreement among Lamont, lawmakers and an advisory panel over who should fill the role. -
Health officials cited Johnson Memorial Hospital last year after learning its chief administrative officer was only present at the facility one day a week. It has since hired an executive director responsible for day-to-day management. -
Most Connecticut prisons have centralized cooling systems. But that isn't the case at Osborn Correctional Institution, a medium security prison in Somers that houses more than 1,100 people. -
Osborn Correctional Institution, a medium security prison in Somers, lacks a central cooling system outside its medical unit and school area. -
The number of educational staff working in the prison school district sank near its lowest level in the last two decades during the 2022-23 school year, according to a recent annual report.
