Youth speak out from MYI to advocate for better conditions

On Wednesday, February 2, CCA hosted a webinar, which for the first time allowed the audience to hear the voices of three young people currently incarcerated at Manson Youth Institution (MYI), along with juvenile justice reform advocates from Connecticut and nationwide. The webinar was moderated by Marisa Halm, Director of CCA's Youth Justice Project. Over 200 people attended this conversation on current conditions at MYI, as well as how they can be improved.

Issues raised by the three young people and panelists included the use of solitary confinement as a response to even minor infractions, inadequate education and mental health services, and a lack of vocational job training programs to help youth successfully re-enter their communities after incarceration.

A recording of the webinar can be found here.

An article from CTNewsJunkie.com recapping the webinar can be found here.

For more information, please contact CCA attorney Marisa Halm.

One year in, CCA's first-in-the-nation Medical-Legal Partnership for behavioral health gets results

In November 2020, CCA and Yale Child Study Center partnered to create a medical-legal partnership for children's behavioral health, the first of its kind in the country. One year later, the CCA-YCSC MLP is already making a difference by providing legal services to families to help them reduce conditions that are harming their children’s behavioral health.

In its first year, the MLP represented 20 children and provided over 100 legal consultations to families and clinicians. These consults and cases have included legal issues around education, housing, immigration, family law, domestic violence, LGBTQ rights, and Supplemental Security Income benefits, and more. CCA attorney Kathryn Meyer works on-site at YCSC, collaborating with clinicians to identify and address the legal needs of youth and families.

The CCA-YCSC MLP was recently recognized by the Yale School of Medicine for its early successes. The YSM feature article can be found here.

For more information, contact CCA attorney Kathryn Meyer.

As 2022 legislative session begins, CCA focuses on protecting and investing in children

Connecticut's legislative session began on February 9, and legislators on both sides of the aisle have recognized that children are bearing too much of the stress and disruption that has resulted from the pandemic. We at CCA welcome this much-needed focus on children's health and well-being, and we urge the legislature to pursue solutions that center children's need for support, compassion, and investment in their future.

CCA will advocate for legislation that improves children's educational success, health, and well-being. We oppose any attempt to enact punitive legislation which seeks to incarcerate children, and instead, we will push for programs and services which keep children safe and stable in their homes, schools, and communities. To address the issues faced by children in Connecticut, we must start by addressing the root causes, including the ongoing systemic inequities and disinvestment in communities of color across the state.

Below are just a few of the important changes CCA will advocate for:

Eliminating exclusionary discipline for early childhood students: CCA will advocate to eliminate suspension and expulsion of children in pre-K through 2^nd grade. Studies have shown that suspension and expulsion has a negative long-term effect, and children who are suspended or expelled at a young age are much less likely to graduate high school. Learn more about efforts to limit exclusionary discipline in this article.

Expanding immigrant healthcare: Last year, CCA was instrumental in passing a bill that expanded HUSKY coverage to include all undocumented immigrant children eight years old or younger. We are asking the legislature to further expand this coverage to all undocumented children 18 or younger. Every child deserves quality healthcare that their families can afford, and further expansion of HUSKY coverage would improve both access and equity in our state's healthcare system.

Better data collection to combat racial inequities: CCA is advocating for a change to the state's Alvin Penn statutes, which mandate data collection of vehicle stops in order to determine whether there are racial disparities in who is stopped and/or arrested. Our proposal would broaden the Alvin Penn statute to mandate data collection for pedestrian stops as well, providing a more holistic picture of racial disparities in police stops in the state.

More stringent statutes to stop lead poisoning: Currently, Connecticut's state statutes allow for four times the federal acceptable level of lead in a housing unit. Our proposal would bring Connecticut law in line with federal guidelines by lowering the acceptable level of lead from 20 to 5 micrograms per deciliter.

Throughout the legislative session, we will send updates on the status of bills that CCA supports or opposes. If you would like to learn more about CCA's legislative priorities, take a look at this infographic post from our Instagram page.

For more information on CCA's legislative agenda, contact CCA Communications Director Charlie Shaddox.