A maximum security prison in Cheshire, Connecticut, became a unique spot for a one-of-a-kind conference with criminal justice leaders, judges and advocates this week.
Speaking to a meeting of criminal justice leaders at a legislative committee in Hartford on Thursday, Mike Lawlor, the state secretary for criminal justice policy, says inmates met with policymakers and showed them the skills they were learning at the prison while manufacturing license plates.
“It’s the first time this has ever happened anywhere in the country, as far as we know. Like bringing an entire conference into a maximum security prison, directly involving inmates in the process, and so we have a lot to be proud of here,” Lawlor said. “Hopefully it’s initiatives like this that will continue to reduce the rate of recidivism of people leaving prison.”
The conference will be featured as part of a 60 Minutes story on criminal justice reform. It shows how Connecticut implemented changes to its prisons after visiting similar facilities in Germany a few years ago.
Lawlor says thanks to reforms, the prison population has dropped enough that the state expects to close another facility by July. More than half a dozen state prisons have been closed or downsized since 2010.