Conditions at Connecticut’s prisons are dire, according to a damning report from the state’s prison ombudsman.
DeVaughn Ward is responsible for investigating complaints and monitoring conditions inside the state’s correctional facilities.
The 2025 Conditions of Confinement Report, released Tuesday, found “recurring failures” at the state's prisons. They include unsanitary conditions, such as mold and rodent infestations, sewage odors and backups, and extreme heat.
Ward reported repeated lockdowns to deal with staff shortages, and an increasing reliance on digital services to replace in-person support.
The largest category of complaints was about medical and mental health.
“These are not isolated lapses or temporary disruptions,” Ward wrote in the report. “They are structural deficiencies, embedded in daily operations. In many respects, DOC appears to be failing to fulfill its statutory mandates.”
This is the first report released since the Office of the Correction Ombuds was reestablished in 2024. The office was eliminated in 2010 to save money.
The report comes amid a series of concerning news from the state’s correctional institutions.
Weeks ago, the state Inspector General found a state contractor running a substance abuse program was at fault for the overdose deaths of two men who died after taking too much Methadone, a drug used to treat addiction, at Garner Correctional Institution in Newtown.
And, a recent investigation from Disability Rights CT alleged widespread sexual assault of prisoners at York Correctional Institution, the state’s women’s only prison.
“This first annual conditions of confinement report presents a clear conclusion: Connecticut’s correctional system is operating in a state of sustained institutional failure,” Ward wrote.
