The Connecticut Correctional Ombudsman said he’s temporarily stopped accepting new complaints from incarcerated people, with nearly 200 cases already awaiting review.
DeVaughn Ward, who took on the role in September 2024, is currently the only employee in the office. His job is to investigate complaints from prisoners, monitor prison conditions, suggest improvements, and report to the state government. Ward has visited 13 prisons in the last eight months, testified on over a dozen bills and reviewed 196 complaints.
Most complaints came from MacDougall-Walker prison, and health issues were the most common concern. Ward prioritized email complaints, so most of the backlog is from letters. A phone line for inmates to call in complaints hasn’t been set up yet, and Ward hopes it might be working in a year or two.
“Hopefully by the third or fourth quarter of this year, we'll be back live accepting complaints and be able to have a system where volunteers or interns will be able to help out with some of those things in the office,” he said at a hearing.
He also said some complaints will be prioritized over others. Safety, security and medical concerns will be categorized as high-level priority complaints, while things like property or housing placement will probably be lower-level complaints, at least for the initial year.
His latest report also mentioned other problems: limited funding, delays in getting records due to confusion over privacy laws, and not having a proper case management system. For a while, he couldn’t access important documents like incident reports unless inmates gave written permission, but that issue has recently been resolved.
Ward tried to hire an assistant, but said state hiring rules are slower and more complicated than in the private sector. Then, a state hiring freeze made things harder. Still, with a new budget of nearly $800,000 starting July 1, he hopes to hire several staff members soon.
By the end of this year, Ward must submit a report reviewing the Department of Corrections’ services. He said he’ll spend part of the summer visiting prisons and holding town halls to explain how his office works. He’ll focus first on complaints related to safety and health, and try to spot common problems that affect many people.
