Connecticut Senate Republican President Len Fasano wants a public hearing to look into reports of denial of healthcare to state prisoners. At a news conference at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford on Wednesday, Fasano said inadequate staffing and untimely healthcare may have been factors in the deaths of eight inmates.
Fasano says legal concerns should not prevent the Connecticut Department of Correction from making the report available to lawmakers.
“And I also understand being a lawyer releasing the report has implications with respect to lawsuits. But we are government. We are not a business. We are government. We should have transparency, we should know what’s happening with the people we are incarcerating.”
Fasano complained that there’s a lack of transparency in the state’s $140 million a year contract with UConn Health to provide healthcare to Connecticut’s 14,000 inmates.
“I’ve advocated strongly against a no-bid contract with UConn for years. Because if you have a no-bid contract, you have no feedback”
Fasano was joined by Republican State Senators Heather Somers of Groton, and George Logan of Ansonia, who are members of the Public Health Committee. They’d like to have the hearings in their committee.
